Brothers and Sisters
by missixtyme
Summary: Renee left Charlie heartbroken and with a baby he didn't know how to look after. He knows he's not fit to be a single parent so he lets the Blacks raise Bella as their 4th child. An odd feeling eventually surfaces and Jacob and Bella can't hide their growing attraction. They must choose between what feels right and what society tells them is.
1. The Father

Brothers and Sisters

_Renee left Charlie heartbroken and with a baby he didn't know how to look after. He knows he's not fit to be a single parent so he lets the Blacks raise Bella as their 4th child. An odd feeling eventually surfaces and Jacob and Bella can't hide their growing attraction. But one small fact prevents them from acting on anything of their feelings. Everyone around them considers them to be brother and sister, even though they are not related. They must choose between what feels right and what society tells them is. _

* * *

Chapter 1:

The Father

* * *

_Never shall anyone be able to understand the extent of a father's love for his daughter ~ _

* * *

The father looks down at his daughter bundled up in bed. Her face is a tempered pink, draped with shadows from the comforters that are pulled up to her chin to ward off the monsters that always seem to lurk deep under her bed. He loves her dearly, but he can't go on like this anymore.

Tenderly, he walks forward. Each step is deliberately calculated. He wants to turn back, but the shallow ache in his chest urges him forward. It seems to take ages to get to her bedside from the doorway. The room isn't large, but when the walls seem to be suffocating you, even a short journey might as well be ten-mile hike.

Eventually, he stands next to her side and stares down at her gentle face. Her innocence is like a light bulb in her sleep; shinning. He doesn't want to let her go. He doesn't want to give her up. But he loves her, and the best thing for her right now, is to be with someone else more capable then him. The pain from the failure just might kill him.

He bends and extracts her, blanket and all, from her bed. 'It'll be easier this way', they told him; however, disturbing her while she sleeps seems to be on a whole 'nother level of cruelty.

But what does he know.

She stirs in her sleep and mumbles something that sounds like 'daddy'. The father can't be sure, her still baby like mumble is hard to decipher, especially for him. Renee could always do it though.

Ever so gently, he leaves the room with her in his arms. It just might be the last time he ever gets to see her, let alone hold her. The tough realization is hard for him to swallow. His wobbly knees feel like led as he treks down the hallway past the packed boxes lining the walls, and out into the empty street in front of his house. He doesn't even bother to lock the door behind him, there's nothing more that he can lose.

The baby's bags are already packed in the trunk of the car. He had tricked her earlier in the day into packing her favorite things for a "trip," he had said. Her gleeful face as she merrily stuffed her most prized possessions into her suitcase: even old broken crayons that she calls her friends, and her quiet babbles about all of the puppies she would see on the car ride (she loves puppies), had been the most painful thing he had ever witnessed. His own happy smiles as he helped her were only there to mask the sorrow that lurked deep inside of him.

When he buckles her in she awakes. Sleep pulls her eyelids close, but she fights with them to keep them open. Eventually her chubby fingers simply hold her eyelids open instead, and she glances around in wonder. The father cracks a smile, but quickly it drifts over the side of his face and a grimace is pulled in instead.

"Dada…" The little girl mumbles, while rubbing at her eyes with her curled fists. She gives up on holding her eyes open and is instead letting her instincts kick in. She simply talks with them closed. At only three she is surprisingly intelligent, though her slurred speech holds her back a little, "Werebe goin'?"

He told her they would leave the next morning. She knows morning is bright and not dark like the present sky.

She looks around in wonder, her wispy brown eyebrows scrunching together as she takes in her environment. She reaches out a drifting finger and captures the little pink bear nesting beside her car seat. The bear cuddles into the crook of her legs, while she hugs the bundle of fabric close to her; she's afraid of darkness. A night-light has always been in her room, and right now the car is dark.

The father flicks the overhead light on to make her more comfortable. Instantly, she visibly relaxes, and he speaks softly to fit with the quiet atmosphere, "On the trip remember?"

She settles further back into her car seat, until most of her legs dangle over. Her brown eyes click close, and he presumes her to be asleep. He pulls away from the curb and begins to drive to the Black's house without another word of explanation. What she doesn't know won't hurt her.

The 25-minute drive down Fork's highway is lonely. The radio is on mute, and not even a single car is on the road. It's hardly ever busy in Forks, and certainly not at three AM. Nearly half way through the journey, he looks into the rear view mirror to check on her, and sees his beautiful daughter's wide, innocent eyes stare into his, "Dada…" She begins, "Yous crin."

It takes him a few moments for him to extract the intention out of her words, but when he looks into the rearview mirror, at his reflection, it becomes clear. Frantically, he wipes the salty tears that he hadn't noticed slip from his eyes with the back of his fist. He doesn't know how to respond, so he looks over his shoulder, into her wide brown eyes staring back at him. "I love you Bella." It's all he can say to her right now that could possibly explain why he is crying. She's too young to understand the hardships he's gone through in the past month. He hopes she will always remember that he loves her. Even when it seems like it can't possibly be true.

"Iwovewooto!" She replies instantly, a sleepy smile dancing on her little lips. After a few silent moments, almost as a reassurance to herself, she mumbles. "I wove me dada." Her eyes drift to the side, out the window, and zone in on a point in the distance. Again sleep pulls her eyelids closed, and her little head, covered in unruly brown curls, bobs with the slight bump of the highway.

He returns his focus to the road. It's all he can do to avoid a break down.

"Are you sure Charlie?" Sarah mumbles with a quick glance around before ushering him and the sleeping girl in his arms into their small house. He's holding her awkwardly; with one of her arms tucked into his shirt, but she doesn't dare tell him to adjust her. Instead she offers to take her, but with a shake of his head he declines.

She smoothes her hands down her nightgown instead, over her ballooning belly.

4 children. She doesn't know how she can manage, but after Charlie came to her after his most recent breakdown, she knows she has to at least try. It will be tough, but Charlie has promised to supply monthly checks in the mail to cover at least most of her expenses. It's unnecessary when he's so needy, but certainly a kind gesture that she knows she must accept.

Charlie buries his face into the blanket wrapped around the girl in his arms, "I-I…" He begins, but bails out. He tries again after a deep clear of his phlegm coated voice. Sarah knows he must have been crying on the way over, "I'm not what's best for her. She deserves someone capable."

She lays her palm on her friend's shoulder. He seems to sink under the slight weight, so she removes it. Instead she rests it on the side of his face; onto the stubbly surface of his cheek that suggests he hasn't been bothering to take care of himself. She knows the depression he's slipped into is deep, and it will take time to pull him from it again.

"You're not a bad father." She mumbles sincerely. Sarah believes it wholeheartedly, even though he's made his mistakes: he's left her behind in stores, forgotten to feed her for sometimes as long as 24 hours, left her in the car, at home, at her own house for days at a time. The depression from the nasty split has destroyed him, and she can't help but mourn for the loss of her old friend. The old Charlie would never do something like this. He swore that he wouldn't let this happen to him. He swore he was capable. He swore he was strong enough. He is a police officer after all, but unrequited love is much harder to deal with than a disfigured body here and there. She hates the bitch for hurting him this badly.

"You're not a bad father." She repeats. Any put downs at this moment would be dreadful for him. Sarah knows a lot of things, including how fragile his confidence is. "When you feel like you're ready to come back, come back. Whatever the hour. When you think you can manage to be a father again, come back. We won't turn you away. Never Charlie" She looks at him sternly. Her beady black eyes hover on his downcast brown ones. She has never been more serious in her life.

He's ashamed of himself. It's the most selfish thing he has ever done, but he really does love her. And he knows that his daughter Bella needs someone that can look after and raise her properly. Someone that isn't as feeble as himself.

"Please…" He whispers. By the sound of his voice, it appears that stubborn tears are hidden just below the surface. Sarah knows the minute he leaves he's going to cry again. Bella and him were nearly inseparable when Renee was still around, but as soon as she left the thread tying them together snapped. Though he still feels the pull of her whenever he realizes the consequences of his careless actions. At this moment it's straining so hard, he feels as though he's having a heart attack, "Just look after her." He manages to blurt out.

Sarah knows, that he knows she will. He needs to hear to believe it. He needs to know that what he's doing is really the right thing, "Of course Charlie. I'll raise her like my own daughter. She won't know the difference I promise."

She turns away from the father and his daughter to give them privacy, and also to wheel her suitcase into the room that she prepared for her. It's the baby's nursery painted in a mellow green. Bella's favorite color is green, and she has yet to find out the sex of the baby. Bella and her baby will have to share a room for a while, so it's perfect.

When she walks back into the foyer of the house, Charlie's sniffles and silent sobs pull on the strings of her heart. She can't imagine giving up one of her daughters. She manages to control her emotions before facing him, "Charlie?" She asks. Her fingers outstretch to hand him a tissue that is perched in her caramel fingers. She knows he needs it.

He takes it wordlessly and wipes the tears snaking down his cheeks, "All of her papers are in her bag. The adoption ones too," He mumbles without so much as glancing in her direction. In one fluid motion he lifts the girl out of his arms, his eyes lingering on her little face for a few seconds before dropping her into Sarah's and practically running out the door. He doesn't look back and Sarah doesn't blame him. A quick break is always the cleanest.


	2. A Brother For a Sister

Chapter 2:

A Brother For a Sister

* * *

_Brotherhood and sisterhood are not roles that you are born into, but ones that you must work towards obtaining. ~_

* * *

Her tiny knees press into the tiles of the kitchen while she mops up a spill that Rebecca made. She's dripping with juice and tears are dripping down her face, while Rebecca and Rachel standoff to the side snickering. She's not completely sure what she's doing, but Rebecca told her Sarah would be really mad when she came home from the doctors to see the spill on the ground and they can't clean it up because they're allergic to juice when it touches their hands but not when they drink it.

They tried to be nice; they let Bella clean it up with paper towels instead of licking it up like they originally told her to do. Mommy always told them not to waste any juice because it's expensive, but they decided after Bella broke down in tears that it would be ok this one time.

Rachel turns to her sister and pushes the palms of her sticky hands to her ears to block out Bella's annnoyyyying whining. She thinks Bella should understand that they were just taking precautions, even though they didn't tell her that Becca spilled the juice on Bella on purpose and that Bella actually didn't have magical command over Becca's hands.

It said in the movie that Daddy had secretly allowed them to watch, that girls who appear from thin air are actually witches. Evil, terrible people who will kill little girls like them. To get rid of them you melt them with water. Water is icky so they used juice instead. Apparently, she wasn't a witch since she didn't melt into a pile of goo like they expected. But still! They didn't remember ever having another sister. What did she expect them to do?

"Becky?" She whispers, though her voice is two octaves too loud to be considered a whisper. It doesn't matter though, they already gave Bella the house rules, and number three was: if you hear us whispering turn off your ears. They're whispering so it counts! Number one was that they get all the good things first and number two was that the new sister in mommy's tummy is theirs and not hers. But the really important one is number three.

"Yes?"

"It di-…sh! Mommy's home!" Rachel's tiny yet strong-arm latches onto the crook of Rebecca's when the sound of their mother's rickety old truck pulls onto the stones in front of the house. Though Rachel is the smaller of the girls, it is widely agreed that she is stronger than Rebecca. It takes only a bit of effort to drag the 30-pound girl into the bedroom they share before the front door clicks open and their very pregnant mother waddles in.

Bella's tearful eyes click up to Sarah's. She sits back and hangs her head, as Sarah sets her bag down by the front door and makes her way over to the little girl.

But Bella is already in heart throbbing sobs by the time she gets to her. She gathers her in her arms and holds her as close as she can to her chest. She was only gone for 15 minutes, and yet it seems like the girls can ruin her entire world in only a matter of seconds. She feels awful for trusting them even that long, "Bella what happened?" She coos to her softly. Bella's hand is pressing into the sore spot on her belly, where her baby boy always seems to kick, and even though it hurts her, she doesn't dear move her.

"Becky n' Rach-" On the 'h', her already squeaky voice jumps higher in pitch. Her skinny arms wind around Sarah's neck, and she knows at that moment that whatever Rebecca and Rachel did, is made worse by the fact that its Sarah who will comfort her and not Charlie.

"What did they do sweetie?"

"They's threw juice at me." She whispers through her firmly clamped lips. Sarah pulls back to look at her face, but she's looking over her shoulder into the girls room at the end of the hall. The girls' wild hair is visible from between the tiny slit in the nearly closed-door.

"GIRLS!" Sarah yells. She hardly ever raises her voice, but she warned them to make Bella feel welcome, and it pisses her off that they did the complete opposite, even when they told her they could be trusted to be left alone. She should have known better.

She's trained them well, so she isn't surprised when two little downcast faces slink into place in front of her. She untangles her arms from around Bella and rests her hands on her belly. Her baby boy kicks just at that moment.

"I think it would be wise to tell me what happened exactly. No lying ok?"

Rachel steps forward, her wide brown eyes even wider than normal, "Ma! It was Becky's fault! Not mine I swear!"

"NA UH!" Rebecca pipes up. She pokes Rachel firmly in the shoulder, her pink lips scrunching up into a defiant pout.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"N-"

"GIRLS!" Sarah cuts them off again with an exasperated sigh. She can't wait until Billy comes home from work so she can get some sleep. It's only five in the afternoon, but she is already exhausted, "I don't care whose fault it was. All I want to know is what happened."

Sarah watches as Rachel and Rebecca glance between themselves. It's clear that neither will confess, and Bella is crying to hard to offer any insight. "Go to your room girls." She breathes. Aggravation is so crystal clear in her voice that Rebecca's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. She grabs onto Rachel's arm and drags her back to their room. The door slams behind them, and their frantic whispered voices, reveal that Bella is not their friend anymore. Sarah doesn't even bother to yell at them for slamming the door. Billy is so much better with punishments then she is, and she's too bushed to care.

Instead, she decides to do the one thing that she is capable of. She carries Bella's heaving form to the couch and drapes her across her lap, so her tiny face presses into her belly. She doesn't say a word, but she doesn't need to.

After a couple of minutes, she can't take it any longer, "Bella…can you please stop touching me there."

Bella's gentle hand freezes on her stomach. The baby is kicking frantically wherever Bella touches. She doesn't know if it's a good reaction or a bad one, nevertheless, the constant kicking is making her insides throb.

Bella's lip is bit in thought. Sarah is thankful it's not quivering.

"Is baby sister angra at mes for touchin' you?" She finally stammers after apparent contemplation. Her eyebrows relax, her chin turns up, and worry creases her forehead.

Sarah shakes her head and gently caresses the hair on her head. Sarah is pleased the stroke relaxes her. "It's a boy Bella. So that means you will have a brother soon…but no. He's not angry with you. He's just reacting to your touch."

There is a pause, then, "Den why you tell me to top?"

"Because…" Sarah says slowly, willing the little girl with wide, innocent eyes that sits on her lap to understand. At just that precise moment, Billy's scraggly head peers through the door. She smiles warmly at him in greeting, and lifts Bella off her lap.

Her arms wind around her left leg, and a whimper brushes out of her mouth. Bella still remembers the time, a few weeks ago, when Billy yelled at her for whining. She quiets quickly, but still looks at him sheepishly. She watches his movements carefully, and tightens her hold on Sarah's leg as he draws near.

"Hello Bella…" He muses once he stands right in front of her. He lowers himself down onto one knee, as his bones groan in protest. He's getting older now. He's surprised he was even able to conceive another child.

He peers around Sarah's toned calf, into Bella's big brown eyes, "Bella…" He says again and pauses. Billy looks up into his smiling wife's face, as her hand gently rubs her stomach. "Can you go to your room for a little while? There's a puzzle in the toy chests near your closet. You can play with it until suppertime. We'll call you when it's ready ok?"

She walks away obediently, without so much as an utterance of protest. Her bedroom door closes slowly behind her, until finally it clicks closed. Compliance was a trait she obtained from her father.

Billy doesn't say a word until he's sure no little ears, can hear. "A boy…"

"How did you know?" Sarah mumbles with a smile. She knows behind the emotionless mask he wears, hides a happy man. He had been content with the possibility of having a girl in the beginning, but when it turned out to be two, he longed for a boy to complete the picture, "Did Marie phone you? I told her not to. I said that I would tell you as soon as you came home, but of course she does-"

He cuts his wife off with a finger to her lips, "I've been meaning to replace the doors. They're quite thin… I heard you mention it to Bella before I came inside."

"Are you happy?" She asks, though she already knows his answer will be yes. But what she doesn't expect is for the distance between them to become closed, she doesn't expect his warm breath to sweep across her lips, or the shivers he gives her as his finger tips parade over the surface of her full belly, and the beaming smile he gives her once it's all over, as they lay in each other's arms in bed with the sweet-smelling blankets pulled up to their chins.

"Did you wash the sheets this morning?"

"Yes, I know you like them that way."

"Good woman."

They've just begun to kiss again, when the bedroom door creaks open. Bella stands at the foot of the entrance, her fingers tumbling over themselves; her lip bit in concentration as she looks at them meekly, "Is supa ready yet? I's finny the picta."

"I guess I'll have to change the locks too."

Sarah smiles.


	3. Jacob William Black

Chapter 3:

Jacob William Black

* * *

_And it begins~_

* * *

He was three days overdue, and the labor was torture, but he's finally here and Sarah can't believe it.

The delivery doctor snips the umbilical cord on her screaming baby boy, after Billy politely declines. He promised her he wouldn't get sick for this birth after what happened with the twins, but by the looks of the greenish tint painting his skin, she knows that promise is undoubtedly broken. It doesn't bother her when he quickly exits the room. He managed not to get sick during the birth when she needed him. It's all that really matters anyway.

"Eight pounds, and five ounces. A good weight." The doctor assures her, as he gently lowers her beautiful baby into her arms. When she looks at him, its as if she's seeing an extension of herself. He has the prominent slope of her nose, and his dark russet skin is akin to her mothers. His little face is exactly like her own when she was little. He's perfect in every conceivable way, and Sarah couldn't be happier.

He sinks into her side, and she hugs the swaddled bundle closer to her chest. It feels so good to finally hold him. Finally see him. The twists and turns he made in her belly are absolutely nothing compared to the feeling of his warmth on her skin, and the little twitches he makes in her arms.

The doctor scribbles information down on the clipboard hanging from the edge of her bed. He glances up at her, as he pulls the latex gloves off of his fingers and throws them into the trashcan near the door. "His name?"

Sarah glances down at the suckling boy in her lap. They hadn't exactly chosen a name yet. Sure, they had ideas and the middle, but they had hoped that once they laid eyes on him, the name would come. She realizes now, how big of a mistake that was. It's no clearer than it was before he was here.

"He can't leave the hospital until you've decided on a name. We need to write the birth certificate. It's required." The doctor speaks with a lit that Sarah recognizes as disdain. She ignores the expectant tap of his foot, and the scowl that leaves his mouth in a rush of obnoxious air as the minutes pass, and she doesn't reply. He turns sharp on his cleanly scrubbed heal, and stalks out of the room to check on other patients. Sarah just shakes her head, at his less than professional behavior. She's too joyful to feel any sort of anger just yet.

Billy returns as soon as he leaves, giving Sarah a look that can only be described as mock horror. Three little girls are in tow behind him. Two taller ones stand in front of the littler one. They are bickering about whom the new baby belongs to and even though Sarah explained over and over again that their new baby brother is a boy, they still refuse to acknowledge it. She is afraid they'll be calling him a girl forever.

Rachel sits on the bed beside her and pokes Jacob square in the chest. He fidgets and begins to cry again, just when he had started to calm down. "Rachel…nice touches," She whispers as she tries to quiet the frantic baby in her arms. She sings a song she sang to him while he was in her womb, and she is pleased when he hushes instantly.

Bella is holding a book tightly to her chest. She scrambles up to Sarah's side, and sets it on the nightstand. "I brough hims a booky," She mumbles as she examines his little face. A smile alights her face, and touches his hair gently. "Yous' can read it to hims."

Sarah glances at the book, _Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang_, it reads. "Jacob William Black," She whispers to herself, immediately liking the way the words roll off of her tongue. She looks at his face.

It suits him.

"His name is Jacob William Black." She pipes up once she is sure of it. The girls groan in displeasure. They wanted to name him Dil Pickles from _Rugrats_. Bella just smiles and nods in agreement. It isn't surprising as Bella agrees with everything she says. But Billy…grins.

He loves it.

As soon as the disgruntled doctor returns to chew them out, Sarah tells him Jacob's name. The look on his face makes Sarah smirk. Quickly, he writes it down, and the birth certificate is printed later that day. Sarah reads it over on the car ride home the next afternoon.

"He was 21.3 inches long when he was born…he's going to be tall Billy."

Billy just nods in agreement with her. She's said it at least 50 times now. He knows she's just proud, but it's getting on his nerves.

"And he weighed eight pounds and five ounces. Now he's eight pounds and six ounces. He's growing well, the doctors said."

A nod.

Even though she knows he doesn't want to hear it, she continues on. _She_ likes to hear it; "He suckles well too. Not like the girls. He's easier. It doesn't hurt at all." She laughs, "It hurt so badly with the girls. Thank god he doesn't. I don't know how I'd be able to do it!"

"Yes dear." He mumbles, as she continues to talk on about anything and everything. His hands curl more tightly over the steering wheel. The girls are babbling in the back about some kind of investigation, and Sarah keeps reading the birth certificate over and over. The volume in the car is nearing intolerable levels.

"January 14th 1990 …I hope he'll like his birthday. I d-" She cuts herself off suddenly. "Look at them," She murmurs to Billy. Her left hand wraps around his forearm, demanding his attention. Sarah keeps turning around in her seat with a sweet smile on her face. He glances in the rearview mirror.

Jacob's eyes are open for the first time since the hospital, and he's staring at Bella. He looks at her with wonder and she stares back at him. Her little fingers stroke the bare skin of his cheek, and even though Rachel and Rebecca are yelling for her, she doesn't seem to notice anything going on around her. The connection between them is so evident that it makes Billy's stomach constrict. It's something he was always afraid of, but the innocent enough moment is worrying him even more. He tears his eyes from the scene before him, and focuses on the road instead. It's a cold January day, but it was warm the day before; perfect conditions to make the road atrociously slippery.

It's a good enough excuse to explain why he just can't bear to look at them any longer.


	4. Accidents

Chapter 4: 

Accidents

* * *

_Love has no age~_

* * *

They adjust to the new addition to their household immediately. Though they have no choice, its astounding how quickly everything falls into place. Bedtime is a breeze, feeding is superbly relaxing, he only cries when it is expected, and he's had no revolting diaper droppings so far. Sarah is starting to wonder if the twins put her through hell and back on purpose, because they are the only headaches in this more than satisfactory start to Jacob's rearing. There have only been two accidents thus far, and the twins are to blame for both.

The first one happened mere hours after Jacob was brought home. They went to studying him immediately. Recording nonsense gibberish on notebook paper, they would lean over his swaying crib watching his every movement with prodding eyes. Billy and Sarah hadn't recognized the danger in letting them do this. They simply thought their sudden interest in him was darling, and snapped several photos of them from the couch. They observed their children interact, like animals at the zoo.

It all happened so fast. One minute he was cooing in the bassinet, the other he was on the ground belly up; eerily calm and still. The air left Sarah's throat in a whoosh of air, and she couldn't scramble to his side quickly enough. They were back to the hospital that day, while the nurses that had discharged them, whispered obscenities behind her back.

When they left the hospital a few hours later with a perfectly sound baby in their arms, Sarah made sure to raise her middle finger discretely. The gawking nurses standing guard at their posts, talked about the nerve of such a women for several shifts.

The second accident had occurred just days before his 4th week, the exact date that Bella had been with them for 4 months.

Billy was giving Jacob a bath. Sarah had said she could do it, but after he noticed the stray and sticky hairs that were plastered to her forehead by a sickly sheen of sweat, he ordered her to go to bed, and promised he would make her a warm bowl of soup right after he finished with Jacob. The triumphant gleam in his eye was enough to convince her that he'd be all right this one time. Eventually she'd have to cut the ropes, and hand them over to Billy, so why not start now? She couldn't do everything after all.

Just as he had started to shampoo Jacob's tiny head, Rachel's shrill voice screamed from the next room over. Billy never had been good with dealing with urgent situations. And even when Jacob was nearly defenseless to the perils of the outside world and the bathtub, Billy crumbled under the stress and forgot to secure him to his bucket. He ran to his little girls, while only gravity prevented Jacob from tumbling over the edge of security into the pitfalls of danger below.

Alas, something on the tub's edge must have caught his eye, as he reached for it. The following crash jerked Sarah from her light snooze. She ran to the bathroom to see his little bottom sticking up in the air, and his face buried into five inches of liquid death.

It was the last time Sarah let Billy wash him without her supervision, and the last time the girls were allowed to watch _E.T._

But besides those two accidents, life in the Black household was good.

* * *

Bella sits on Sarah's right, her little right hip pressed up against her left. She has been stuck like glue to Sarah's side since Jacob was born. And when Sarah asks someone to do something small for her, Bella races up and retrieves whatever she needs before anyone else can even glance at her.

Right now she's watching Jacob sleep in her arms. She had just fed him, and like always he falls asleep right away. Bella climbed on the couch the second his eyes closed. For some reason, his sleeping face fascinates her.

"Wha he doin'?" She whispers softly. Ever since Sarah told her she must be quiet when he's sleeping, she's needed to watch her lips move just to understand her. It takes her a second to extract the intention out of Bella's mumbles.

"He's sleeping."

She points at his twitching foot. Not even Sarah had noticed it.

"I don't know honey. Maybe he's dreaming."

"Wha he dreamin' about?" She asks an excessive amount of questions. But it doesn't bother Sarah. In fact, she tries her best to answer each one, much to delight of the curious little girl. She likes to have someone who looks up to her, since the girls would rather hang out with their father. She was pleased when she turned down Billy's offer to go skating this afternoon.

"I don't know. Maybe he's dreaming about you."

"Me?"

Sarah smiles, and watches Bella's face light up. While caressing her curly brown locks, she speaks slowly, "Maybe. He's told me he loves you. Don't you dream about the ones you love?"

Her head bobs furiously, "I dream about yous, Bwilly, Jay, and Daddy."

She chuckles when she purposefully leaves out the twins. They've been hell to her over the last 4 months. Sarah doesn't blame her, "Your daddy called the other day."

A huge smile spreads slowly across her face. She leans up, close to Sarah's face. "He dids?" Her voice is small, coated with hope. She knows she wants to live with him again.

Sarah simply nods, drawing the girl down to sit firmly on her bum before she can fall over the couch. The girl is a klutz. It wouldn't shock her.

"Comin' ba?"

"No…he's not coming back." Sarah curses herself internally for bringing it up. "He wanted to talk to you. But you were fast asleep by the time he called. He misses you though honey. He told me to tell you that he loves you very much and that he's ok."

Bella nods slowly, taking in the words like a sponge. She's surprisingly intelligent; more so than even Charlie had made her out to be.

Sarah can see tears collecting at the back of her eyes. But she forces them down with a firm blink, and a squeeze of her throat that comes out as a strangled gasp. To distract herself, her little fingers go for Jacob's big toe that is just peeking out from underneath the edge of the blanket.

"B-" She was about to stop her. Her hand outstretches to knock her fingers away. But when Jacob doesn't stir, she relaxes. Dropping her hand to rest beside her lap, she lets the heartbroken girl caress her baby's delicate skin. She trusts her.

"Don't you like it here?" She asks instead.

Bella nods.

Sarah stays quiet, letting the unsaid words smother the tranquility out of the air.

"I miss hims." She says to nothing in particular, "I miss me daddy."

There's nothing for her to say, so she doesn't say word. "Why don't we watch a movie? We can lie together in my bedroom. We have that little VCR player we can hook up."

Her arms are starting to go numb from holding Jacob so she placidly places the still sleeping baby in the playpen in the centre of the room. The baby monitor on her hip starts to spew static as soon as she turns it on. She walks to her bedroom with a smile, expecting Bella to follow.

"We've got the _Carebears__, Sesame Street_, and _Scooby Doo_ videos. You can pick which ever you'd like Bella." She waits a second for her to decide, as she readies the player, but when nothing comes she turns around. She's not there.

Panic quickens her heart. She walks to the door and peaks around the corner.

Bella is sitting at the playpen, staring at the still sleeping boy though the mesh that separates them. Her eyes are kind; her fingers gentle, as she pokes a hand through, to continue to touch his little foot. Sarah realizes Bella wasn't sticking to her side. She was sticking by Jacob all along.

It's a sweet sight, but just like her husband, she's starting to worry. She knows the stories just as well as he does.

Goosebumps rise on her forearms.


	5. What This Means

Chapter 5: 

What This Means

* * *

_If you look close enough, even the sweetest of things appear ugly~ _

* * *

"Boy's are icky." Rebecca remarks with a sad sigh. She picks at the bouquet of red grapes sitting in a bowl in front of her. She turns one over in her palm, her almond brown eyes narrowed in concentration. With a flick of her wrist, it goes sailing over to the 5-month-old baby sitting in front of her. It hits him square in the chest, and he tumbles over backwards in surprise.

Leah just snorts in amusement and goes back to defacing the coloring book in front of her. She makes an effort to choose the exact colors the animals aren't. It annoys Rachel immensely who watches her with disdain. "Boys are supid. Dat's what meme aways say."

"You's is sooooo lucky you's don't haves a brother," Rachel muses, while glaring at the baby who lies on his back motionless. She thinks he's such a drama queen.

Leah shrugs her shoulders, and stabs a hole through a picture of a bunny with her black crayon. She wears a triumphant smirk as she rips the picture to shreds. Ever since Sue told Leah that the Easter Bunny hated her for throwing a temper tantrum at the mall to avoid getting her picture taken, Leah has taken it upon herself to mutilate every single bunny she sees. Including live ones. She's been banned from the petting zoo. "I's will trade you for cookie."

Rachel's eyes widen in glee. "You will!?"

Leah nods a little, while flipping the page to a fresh one. She carefully selects a bright blue crayon and scribbles circles all over the dancing pig. She doesn't say another word to Rachel. Her attention span is that of a goldfish, and its capacity has already expired.

But Rachel and Rebecca don't care. They're busy stuffing Jacob's bag with doll clothes by the time little Bella toddles in from the bathroom. She glances between the girls and Jacobs little form, still lying with his back to the ground. "What happenes," she whispers while she rights him. He looks at her with wide brown eyes and his mouth breaks out into an equally large grin.

"Ba!" he squeals with delight upon seeing her. One of his chubby fists grabs hold of her tank top, encompassing it in an iron strong grip that Bella knows she can't escape from. She attempts to pry off his fingers, but he is remarkably strong for such a small baby. Instead, she gives up and looks at him warily.

Rachel glances over at the two. "Just kick him," she says it like it's obvious. It is something she would do in this situation, "He'll let go."

"He cry."

"So?" Rebecca shrugs her shoulders and zips her Barbie backpack closed. It's the only backpack she has, and she loves it dearly, but if it means that they can get rid of Jacob, she doesn't care. Daddy will buy her a new one. He always gives in to the puppy dog pout and she's mastered it.

Bella just stares at her. It's obvious from the look on her face that she won't be harming him for something so silly. It's unthinkable. She looks down at Jacob who's making kissy face at her, and laughing happily. She mimics him, and to her surprise he releases her shirt to fall over, giggling like crazy.

Rachel slings the pack over her shoulder and scowls down at him. "Picks hims up Bella." They've decided to give him to Sue while she's over babysitting them. Sue's been wanting a baby boy for a while, but Harry won't give her one until Leah stops sucking her thumb.

Leah refuses to.

"Why?" Bella asks passively.

They know if they tell Bella the truth, she'll never agree to it, and they still can't touch him. "He wants to go home wifs Sue. You tell hers and we wait here."

"Oh," is all she says.

A minute later, Jacob is cooing into her shoulder, while Bella is struggling to carry the 18-pound boy down the hallway to the living room where Sue sits crying over some melodrama on prime time TV.

"Miss Sue?" she whispers. With a groan, she sets the boy in front of the couch, and carefully taps Sue's leg to get her attention.

The blubbering women jumps at the girl's icy cold finger tips parading over the surface of her bare leg. Even during the summer, Bella's hands are still impossibly cold, "Yes dear?" She hastily rubs the tears off her cheeks; taking what little makeup she wears off as well.

"Rach says Jake wants to go homes wifs you."

"Well…" She struggles to compose her thoughts along with her appearance, though she's not sure what to make of it, "Jake can't talk yet hun," she says finally, with a snort of laughter.

Bella frowns and whispers, "They's packed his bag."

"Who did?" The frown on her face grows more pronounced when she hears the distressed quiver in her voice.

"Da girls Miss Sue," Bella mumbles, while playing with the hem of her flowered dress. "I don't want him to leaves. He me only friend." Sue can see the tears collecting at the edges of her downcast eyes. She glances back at the baby babbling at the TV. His grimy hands smear fingerprints over the screen.

Sue pats her head awkwardly to comfort her. She has virtually no experience with his sort of thing. Leah hasn't shed a tear since she was two years old when she fell off the monkey bars. And even then it was only for a few seconds, and she refused Sue's condolence with a snootiness that takes years to ace.

To her surprise it works; Bella's tiny sniffles quiet before ceasing altogether, "Miss Sue?"

"Yes sweetie," she asks softly.

"Don't take hims. Pwease?"

She nods firmly in assurance.

With a grin, Bella runs to Jacob's side. The little boy squeals happily, and wraps his arms around the little girls leg, making her fall to the ground on her side. Instead of bursting into tears like she expects, Bella actually giggles. Her high little voice is a mixture of pure elation and delight, while Jacob chants the sound 'ba' over and over again.

Sue can see Jacob's face from where she's sitting and he's smiling like she's never seen him before. It's a sunny, joyous smile that warms even the coldest depths of her heart. Their incessant chatters continue on for the rest of the afternoon, all while Sue watches.

The second Sarah and Billy return in the evening, and he goes off to have a shower, Sue pulls Sarah aside. "How was the fishing trip?"

There's a kind of urgency in Sue's voice as she speaks that suggests the innocent question hides a deeper significance. "Fine…" she whispers, while staring at her quizzically, "Excellent really. It was kind of nice to watch the Billy and Harry talk and just relax in the boat. Thank you for offering to watch the kiddo's." She glances back for the children, but they're already in bed, save for Leah whose watching _Carebears_ on TV, "Were they alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Sue swallows thickly and places a shaky hand on her shoulder. Her voice shakes as she speaks, "Fine. Could of hit em' over the heads a few times, though that's normal…" She trails off, her gaze fixated on a point past her head. "Have you seen the little ones?"

"Who?"

"Jacob and Bella…"

Sarah laughs, like the question is completely ridiculous, "Seen them? Isn't that your job! You-"

Sue cuts her off with another elongated sigh, "Them together…how they act."

Her eyes widen, and her voice becomes thick in her throat, "Yes." she whispers, as her voice grows pained.

"There's a connection between them Sarah. It's as plain as day. Don't you see it?"

"Of course I see it Sue," Sarah snaps. She moves away from her to pace a few feet in both directions, and her sweaty palms rake through her scalp in frustration.

"And you've done…nothing?"

"What is there to do?" Sarah sighs, plopping down on the couch, "You know what this means. There's nothing you can do to stop it."

"There hasn't been a pack in generations. There hasn't been a coven in the area for decades. But if the stray one passes through the area…" Sue cuts herself off with a sharp swallow to ward off the feeling of nausea rising in her throat.

"It'd be enough to activate the genes. In time." Sarah agrees.

"So do something about it!"

"And what should I do Sue?"

"Move…" Sue suggests with a shrug of her shoulder, "Maybe it'll reverse what has already happened."

"I can't move. I can't leave behind all that we have here. Billy has a wonderful job. And I have a great one to return to. The girls are starting preschool this September and I can't take Bella away from the one place she has to remember her father by. I have a feeling he's never coming back…

"And I'm not running away from something that may not even be chasing us. We may just be overreacting. Reading their relationship too harshly. Plus, just because we run away doesn't prevent any others from changing. There's nothing we can do. I wish we could, but I've accepted the fact that we just have to wait and see."

Sue stares at her friend sympathetically. She couldn't imagine having to deal with the worry Jacob must be causing. She's so thankful Leah is a girl, though she's starting to reconsider her desire of a boy to complete the picture.

As Sue is driving home that night with a sleeping Leah, she swears she sees a flash of white dart through the trees. It could have just been the light from her headlights reflecting on a sign, but the sight itself tends nervous tingles rushing down her spine. She fears for the Black's and what this implies. She makes a mental note to stock up on birth control, and call off their bout of abstinence. There's no way she's having a boy.

* * *

_**AN: I am terribly sorry for not updating last week. Finals were on, and I just couldn't find the time. I thought I'd be able to finish up the chapter by Thursday, but once I went back and read what I had already prepared, I realized I hated it and it wasn't working. So I took this weekend to rewrite it, hence why I am posting it on Sunday rather than my usual Friday. I plan to continue that schedule, once a week, for this story. **_

_**PS: You guys are the sweetest…like ever. Thank you :-) **_


	6. For Now

Chapter 6: 

For Now

* * *

_Good enough, is never enough~_

* * *

The bright white package skips along the table until falling still in front of Harry. He carefully picks it up and reads the words scrawled on the front of the container aloud, "Birth control pills?" He glances at Sue, who nods her head in confirmation.

"Good boy. You know how to read." She leans forward and places a gentle kiss to his temple. He smiles at her, while a deep rumble gurgles from his throat and spews out into the quiet air.

"I thought we weren't…" His chocolate-brown eyes, still bright with youth, hover on their young daughter scribbling in the corner. The thumb on her left hand sits caught between her lips, where it has been for the past hour and a half. He glances back at his wife and stares at her warily, disappointment heavy on his face. "You promised…"

"And I haven't broken it," she purrs, "That's what the birth control is for you dumb-ass."

The pencil drops and Leah stares at Sue pointedly. Solemnly, she digs a quarter from her pocket, and drops it into Leah's waiting hand. "I thought you weren't listening to mommy and daddy's conversation," she mumbles, with an irritated huff, though she knows she's in the wrong. She promised Leah that she wouldn't say any bad words for an entire month. So far, only half way through, Sue's given Leah five dollars in quarters.

Leah only pockets it with a smirk. She goes back to coloring like nothing has happened. Harry has to hold Sue back from wiping the smirk right off her face.

He tugs her in a side room and closes the door behind them. Even though Leah's ears are small and the conversation is nothing of the sort, she's prone to repeating what she hears, and Harry has a feeling this conversation cannot be repeated. "Why the change of heart?"

"Jacob." She lets out a massive breath of air with the word. It sweeps across his skin, sending shivers trickling down his spine. Even though he has no idea what his name implies, the way she says it is chilling.

"What about him…" he whispers, already fearful of what she may tell him. He's thinking the worst; that he's done something terrible.

Without replying Sue paces the small foyer of the room. Her fingers greedily run themselves over decorations on the office desk. Each object lingers beneath her fingers for a few seconds before she moves to the next. She turns sharp on her heel to face him, her eyes gloomy and sad. "When do the wolves usually turn?"

"Well my great-great grandfather turned when he was 22." His eyes widen in comprehension, "No."

Sue nods sorrowfully. She turns from him again, "I can't Harry…I just…can't. I've heard of the stress it causes. Not my baby. Not my baby boy."

Harry's arms wind around her waist comfortingly. He draws her little head into the crook of his neck, where he kisses the skin of her jaw softly. He swears to himself, and her, that she won't have to worry.

They stay locked in each others arms for a few minutes. Finally, Sue's the one to pull away. She wipes dried tears off her face, and her voice is full of remorse as she speaks; "I'll get dinner ready."

Harry follows his wife out the door and into the kitchen. It saddens him to see his usually vibrant spouse shamble around with her eyes dreary and lifeless. It pains him to see her so dreadfully disappointed. He knows she wanted a son more than anything in the entire world.

He regrets making the deal with her.

Maybe if they'd already had a son by the time Jacob started showing the symptoms, she would have simply accepted it. Though he can't take back what has already happened to him, maybe he can prevent any others from drifting down the same path.

"Sue?" he calls while pulling a rain jacket around his shoulders. By the looks of the dense clouds brewing overhead, he suspects it won't be long before the heaven's breach, "I'll be back in a few hours at the most."

"Where are you going?" she asks virtually emotionless. She turns her head, but her hands continue to busy themselves with work behind her.

"It doesn't matter. I'll be back soon." The front door closes behind him and he takes in the cool air that flows over the tips of the swaying trees in the distance. The storm cell that must over his head looks like it will be a vicious one.

Slowly, he walks to his truck parked in the driveway. From the corner of his eye, he can see Sue's gentle face peeking through the curtains covering the living room's windows. He doesn't acknowledge her as he walks because if he did, she'd be able to see the fearful grimace that sits heavy on his lips.

It only takes him thirty minutes to arrive at the brick-walled mansion, and when he does torrents of rain already fall from the sky. With a lowered head, he makes his way to the porch. His hand goes to knock on the door, but it's opened before he's able to.

"Harry Clearwater…" an intoxicatingly rich voice murmured, "Alice had a vision you would show. What on earth are you doing here at this hour? _Please _come in."

The man steps aside, but Harry's posture is as rigid as ever. His feet stay planted in their same spot, "We'll speak out here thank you. Close the door."

The man looks at him warily, and he shakes his perfectly manicured noggin in disdain. "You seem upset."

Harry scoffs, and his arms fold over themselves protectively. The aurora the man gives off would be alluring to anyone in his proximity, but for Harry it's like a repellent. Everything about him is disgusting. Maybe it's because of his heritage. "Oh do I?"

He frowns, "I'm afraid I don't understand what the prob-"

Harry cuts him off with a grumble that starts deep within his chest, "Don't get smart with me Carlisle. Alice would have seen everything if she had a vision I would come."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. She only had seen you pull up into our driveway. She knows nothing about your visitation."

"He wants us to leave," a bronze headed boy of about seventeen says once he has stepped through the door, "Please Harry, it's raining terribly. Come in. We promise you'll be perfectly safe. There's nothing to be afraid of."

The cooing nature of the boy's voice does anything but relax him. Instead he grows increasingly agitated, "How did you know that?" he asks through clenched teeth. His hands curl into fists at his sides, which seems to amuse the two men before him.

"My assistant is something of a mind-reader. But please listen. You know I will not hurt you. In fact I'm sure you'll feel quite at home. Esme is excellent at making coffee. We'll be able to talk much more comfortably indoors where it is warm and dry."

"No." He protests. The sky spits booms of thunder, and a streaky bolt of lighting lights up the darkened sky. However, the ugly weather does nothing to dissuade him, "We'll talk out here. Edward, go inside."

With a sigh, Edward closes the door behind him. Carlisle stares at Harry grimly, "Now…why would you want us to leave? We've followed the rules perfectly."

"We've had an…incident. At least we think so. A young boy in the village is showing symptoms. Just your closeness is enough to trigger the gene and we don't want this to be happening to our men. Not again. It's not needed."

"Unless it is." Carlisle counters, "Have you ever thought that maybe it's not us?"

"Only one way to find out." Harry says flatly. He sighs as he speaks; his eyes hold steady contact with the other man's, "Your stay here was conditional. It's time to leave."

"We'll think about it."

"No," he says sternly. His eyes narrow in anger and his voice quivers, "You'll leave." His patronage to his wife precedes any other agreement he has made. He realizes he and the council have given consent to the Cullen's months before, but because the village is suffering from their presence, he doesn't care. They must go.

"Goodbye Harry." The wind that is produced from his swift exit inside sends a shower of raindrops spraying into his face.

His open dismissal creates a passionate rage to shake his fists at his sides. He stalks away from the house before he can do something that will surely get him, and the rest of the tribe murdered. The door of his truck slams close behind him, and it takes all of the control he can muster from letting the car swerve into the ditch on the ride home. When he gets home, Sue doesn't ask where's he been. All she does, is hand him his steaming plate.

Leah does ask though. He tells her he's done nothing.

He prays to the gods above every night that everything will work out. They don't _need_ a son. They just _wanted_ one.

But three weeks from that day, his prayers are answered. The brick-walled house just outside Forks is abandoned. An envelope is found, taped to the door, addressed to Harry Clearwater in bold, black ink. Just a few minutes after the letter makes it home, it's crumbled up. In equally transfixing letters are the words, 'We'll be back.'

When Sue asks what the letter was for he tells her everything will be alright; that the situation has been taken care of. But what he doesn't tell her is that the situation is only taken care of, _for now_. He hopes that will be enough.


	7. Quil Ateara V

Chapter 7:

Quil Ateara V

* * *

_Happiness is conditional~_

* * *

"We're already half an hour late Billy. Just suck it up and do it." Sarah practically growls, "Rachel! Sit still."

The girl stops her squirming and pouts into the mirror, back at Sarah's reflection, "I don't like pigtails. I like Bella's better."

Bella's eyes widen when her name gets mentioned. She stops twirling the two braids draped over her shoulder, and lowers her head in submission. Usually, when Rachel said her name its to yell, or tell on her.

"You can't have Bella's hair Rachel. It just won't work," Sarah, says with a sigh, she continues to pull the girl's hair into two matching pigtails, but Rachel is constantly moving her head stubbornly. The frustration that is boiling inside of is starting to bubble to the even surface of her face.

"Rachel please!"

Rachel scowls and Sarah is delightfully surprised when instead of fighting; she slouches over in her stool and puts her face in her hands. Even though the angle is awkward, it's much easier.

Finally, after a tiresome hour, she's finished. Even though it took twice as long as she intended, and the results are not exactly what she had envisioned, she's pleased.

Her back creeks as she stands, and she realizes how truly awful the position was. It will be screwed for days, but she pushes the pain to the farthest depths of her mind. She's determined to put on a happy face for the party. It'll mean everything to Joy who's planned the get-together weeks in advance. "Billy," she calls to her husband who hasn't come back, even fifteen minutes later. All she had instructed him to do was change Jacob's dirty diaper. It shouldn't take this long.

The reply comes once she's already standing in the doorway. Billy is scrubbing something off the ground, while Jacob laughs hysterically on the change table. Bella stands on a stool at his side, tickling his bare belly. She hadn't even realized she'd gone. "Billy…what happened?"

"That damn son of a b-" He cuts himself off when he sees the venomous look that Sarah directs at him, "Peed on me…and the floor…and the walls."

"You have to cover him…" she sighs. It would take a good, hot steaming to take the smell out of the carpet, "Just…we don't have time for this Billy. Just put clothes on him and let's go. We're late."

"See this is why I didn't want to do it." he grumbles.

"You didn't want to do it because you think it's gross." Sarah counters with an irritated huff. For a man who weekly guts and beheads his catch of fresh trout, his stomach is as weak as tissue paper.

Billy grumbles in disagreement, but otherwise stops arguing. Sarah, of course, is right again. She takes Bella by the hand and leads her back to the other girls who are whispering among themselves.

Bella hangs behind, and hugs her leg, "Miss Sarah?"

"Yes hun?" she glances down at her.

The young girl peers up at her, with wide gentle eyes. With every passing day, the more of Charlie shows through in her. The muted hue of her eyes is the exact color of Charlie's. The familiarity saddens her. Charlie had been a good friend to Billy, and her. His absence has been hard on all of them.

She looks at her hopefully as she speaks, "Is der gonna be girls there too?"

Sarah smiles maternally, "Well Rachel, Rebecca, and Leah are going to be there. So you won't be all alone."

A flicker of disappointment registers, but after just a second her face composes. Her head inclines; the subject dropped. She slips into place beside the twins who only glance at her. They talk like she's not there, and the sight makes Sarah boil with anger once again. Though she loves her daughter's with all her heart, their dismissal of such a sweet, innocent girl sickens her.

She shakes off the feelings of displeasure when Billy places Jacob in her arms. The baby glances up at her, and pats her face. Wordlessly, Billy takes the hands of Bella and Rachel. He knows Rebecca will follow as he pulls the two girls out the door. Expertly, he buckles them into their seats; by the time Sarah even makes it out the door. She stands on the driveway and grins at her husband. Even though he is a bit of a chicken sometimes, he's a good man. She places a kiss on his cheek and buckles up the baby herself.

She's lucky she has him.

* * *

The amount of people at the Ateara's party surprises Billy. Nearly ever section of their festively colored backyard is stuffed with groups of people. Most Billy knows, but a few unfamiliar faces turn to greet him with polite smiles.

His family falls into place among the other guests. Sarah goes to Sue with Jacob in her arms, who points at everything that moves in awe; Rachel and Rebecca go to Leah who glares at everything in the corner, and Bella wanders after the twins. Billy can't seem to find Harry or Quil so he stays at the corner of the lot.

Joy is the first one to catch his eye.

Despite her massive belly that protrudes grotesquely from underneath her summery gown, the extremely pregnant woman is light on her feet. She waltzes through the groups of people crowded around the food table, and retrieves Billy a plate full of appetizers before he manages to acknowledge her. She holds a literal joy that is not akin to the enthusiasm that Sarah had when she was pregnant. Sarah was looking forward to giving birth, to have the baby free from her and finally in her arms, but he knows that Joy loves being pregnant. She glows, and the grin that she wears is always spread from ear to ear.

"Nice party you got going on." he mumbles as he pushes a festive looking red velvet cake, with blue icing and butter cream frosting, past his lips.

"You like?" she muses, one hand on her hip, "I tried to do everything red, blue and white for the holiday. Keep things festive."

"Turned out quite well if I must say so myself. Where's Quil?"

"He's at work. He couldn't get the day off sadly- oh.." Joy cuts her self off with a strangled hiss of inhaled air. Her hand flits to her belly and she bows in pain.

Billy has never been good at deciphering pain in another person's face. He licks his fingers clean and nods in agreement, "That sucks."

She tries to shake it off and stand tall, but the pain persists. "Billy." she stammers when her contractions already start to become more frequent. She knows she can't do anything to stop them. Her lips part with her pants, "Call Quil." Her baby is coming, and fast.

He just stands there for a moment. His eyes narrow at her, as her discomfort starts to become more apparent. Quickly, he sets his plate, still full of food, on the ground. "Joy…" He grabs the crook of her arm, awkwardly supporting her, as she can't seem to hold herself up. Frantically he searches the party grounds. Someone must see them locked together into a gauche jig, but nobody seems to even notice them. Their conversations must be far more important than the baffled man trying to help a frenzied woman.

"T-The baby…" she takes a deep breath and lets it out in a cry. Her face contorts as a stab of pain shoots through her abdominal cavity. It's her first baby. Should it hurt this badly?

Billy's eyes widen to the size of saucers. His hands break from her, like she's suddenly contagious. He wasn't good with Sarah and she was his own wife. "HELP," he cries out over the boisterous noise of the party. He stares at her, his hands and feet frozen in place. He's at a loss of what to do, so he does nothing at all.

Maybe it's because she's his husband, or her motherly nature makes her tremendously sensitive to the perils of others, because Sarah's head is the only one to lift to Billy's cry of help. She runs with his baby in her arms. Her incessant wonderings about what is going on seems to turn the other parties eyes to the drama going on before them. Instead of just Sarah's aid, it's Sue's and a couple of other women's as well.

They all run to Joy and Billy in the corner of the lot, screaming for the men to call Quil. Perhaps by the enlarged width of her stance, they all know why Joy is in so much pain without having to ask. Billy reasons that it's a women thing.

They push him out-of-the-way and work on comforting Joy. They promise the ambulance will be here soon, and in the meantime, the ones who have given birth already, instruct her to work on leveling her breathing. Billy follows their directions: one giant breath in through the nose then let it out slowly through the mouth. It helps.

"Take him." Sarah thrusts Jacob into his arms. The boy coo's at him, his face broken into a wide grin. He's oblivious to the panic around him.

Joy cries out in pain behind him, and Billy turns around to see her legs drawn up, her face pursed into an 'o' as she pants. The sight sends a wave of nausea to crash around him. He stumbles forward, nearly knocking over Bella who perches at his feet.

"Mr. Billy?" She looks at him with wide eyes. She glances back at Joy lying back on the ground, while the flock of women hovers around her. The ambulance's wail has yet to come, and it seems like time is running out. Sue is screaming for Joy to push.

"It's crowning!" She exclaims frantically, as another grunt escapes Joy's exhausted body. Every eye is on them by now.

"Mr. Billy?" Bella repeats. She yanks on his pant leg to get his attention.

"Yes Bella?"

"Rachel fells out of tree." She bites her lip in worry, "Is look funny."

Billy sighs. The forth of July party, just can't go any worse, "Where are they Bella? Where's Rebecca and Leah?"

"Wif Rachel…in da woods." She picks at her nail and bites her lip, "They tell me to get you. Can you's go help her? She hurting."

Billy glances down at the baby in his arm who's lip is starting to quiver in such a way that he knows he's about to burst into tears. "I…uh…" He can't leave his baby girl in pain, but he can't leave his son either, "Bella, watch Jacob ok?" He doesn't even need to look at the girl in front of him, because he knows she'll do it anyway. She finds any excuse she can to hang around Jacob.

He sets him down on the ground and goes to look for Rachel and Rebecca. Jacob grins up at Bella, and Bella grins back. They sit together while the hysteria goes on around them. Bella keeps Jacob from crying, and Jacob keeps Bella calm even when the ambulance comes and helps deliver Joy's baby right there in the middle of the lawn.

* * *

It's degrading, and unsanitary, and awfully embarrassing, but Joy doesn't care when she sees her baby.

"It's a boy," the medic whispers as she places him in her arms.

"Quil Ateara V." Joy whispers as she strokes the baby's gentle face. She lets them load her into the back of the ambulance, all the while staring at him. He's perfect, and lovely, and oh so darling.

Before they can close the doors, Billy comes out of the forest, carrying a hysterical Rachel. Her left arm sits close to her chest, bent at an unnatural angle. Billy tries to convince them to take an extra passenger to the hospital. He prides himself in his convincing demeanor, but really it was Rachel's whimpering face that won them over.

* * *

Bella colors in the coloring book the hospital gave her while Jacob watches. Neither seem too interested in the newly birthed baby just a couple of feet away from them, nor their crying sister as she gets her arm wrapped in plaster.

It was a hairline fracture. Rachel insists that it was her stupid hair that caused the break. If she had gotten Bella's pretty braids, none of this would have happened. She isn't too pleased nevertheless.

Joy and Rachel recover in the same room. Joy is elated, and Quil IV, who met them at the hospital, is thrilled that it's a boy. He wanted a boy to continue the long line of first-born son's in the Ateara's family tree. Joy never cared as long as it was healthy. Fortunately, baby Quil is as fit as a whistle.

Sarah isn't sure if she should be happy, or sad. On one side of her Rachel whimpers, the other, Joy and her family laugh with glee. She decides to wear a face of melancholy.

The rest of the party whispers among themselves outside the room. The celebration is undoubtedly over, only an hour in, but it's probably the most exciting Fourth of July party La Push has ever seen.

And past the walls of the hospital, two flashes of white dance through the trees.


	8. Chills and Creeps

Chapter 8:

Chills and Creeps

* * *

_Just when the caterpillar thought his life was over, he became a butterfly~_

* * *

He wakes to golden rays of light shimmering through the curtained window. The strands twist through the spaces in the cloth, and dance on his face. He shields his eyes, even though he's thrilled to see them. It will be a fabulous fishing in the sunlight.

Billy sits up. He's only 35 years old, but already he's feeling the effects of old age brittle his bones. He's not as fluid as he once was, and the act of parting his back from the mattress requires an obscene amount of effort.

The second he steps through the threshold of his room, something just doesn't feel right. He stops to listen for something that might be off, but he hears nothing. But that's just it. The Black's household is silent for once.

He's not sure if he should feel ecstatic, or terrified. On one hand, a quiet house is a peaceful one. And peaceful Monday mornings are something that he hasn't experienced since the twins were born. But, on the other, it's never quiet. Was his entire family murdered while they slept? He didn't see any bloodstains next to him when he awoke, but the merry scene outside _had_ distracted him.

Alas, there's a noise. A slight one that is hardly noticeable unless you strain your ears to hear it. He tiptoes closer; each step careful but sure. Has he caught the murderer in the act?

No. It's just Bella. He relaxes and tenses all at the same time. Where one munchkin is, another isn't too far away. Billy presses himself up against the hallway's wall, hell-bent on scaring the living shit out of the timid little girl. When he manages to calm her down, they may just share a laugh about it.

He creeps forward, but the third baseboard from the entrance into the kitchen, moans under his weight. Bella's eyes lift from her cereal, and her humming ceases. She looks over at him and offers him a small wave, "Hi Mr. Billy. What's you doin'?"

His posture straightens and he huffs in mock irritability at her. "I was going to scare you." he says matter-of-factly.

"Oh. Otay." She dismisses him with a slight shrug of her shoulder. Bella goes back to shoveling spoonfuls of Lucky Charms past her little lips with a much to large spoon. She literally has to strain and stretch the corners of her mouth around the mammoth. Why she decided to choose that one, out of the tens they had in the same drawer, baffles him.

Outside, the waning leaves on the red alders shiver. From the kitchen window, Billy can see the chill of autumn hover in the air. Its icy fingers clung to the trees in the form of frost, and its long tentacle like appendages holds the forest tightly in its grasp. The warmth of summer is fading quickly. Only 10 days remain in the season, and it's starting to show, "It's the girls' first day of school isn't it?"

Bella nods while carrying her empty bowl, "Yes. Mr. Billy," She sets it carefully next to the sink. She has to stand on her tippy toes just to reach the short ledge, "How you no knows this?" She stares at him accusingly, her hands on her hips. The gesture is so Renee-ish that it makes him shudder in disgust. He hates the woman for taking his best friend away from him.

"I guess I just forgot…" he trails off, distracted by the chipping paint on the walls. How did he manage to forget the twins first day of school? He turns back to Bella and murmurs, "Where'd you find the cereal?"

"Dis be kiddy cereal Mr. Billy. Not for yous." Bella says deprecatingly, a cutesy pout heavy on her lips. She points to the cabinet next to the fridge anyway.

He chuckles and grabs the half-empty cereal box off the bottom shelf and pours himself a generous amount into a bowl shaped like an elephant. They really need to do dishes. Just as he shovels the first bite into his mouth, the doorbell rings. He glances at Bella, who stares back at him.

"Did Sarah say we were expecting anyone today?"

Bella just shrugs.

Carefully, Billy walks to the door. He takes a moment to part the curtain to steal a glance at the visitor outside. He jumps ten feet into the air when a dark brown eye stares back at him. Not just anybody would know his sneaky tactics.

"Joy," he says as he pulls open the door to greet her. He can't help his monotonous tone from twisting his words, "How nice it is to see you."

Her eyebrow rises as she slips through the slightly opened door. She sets the car seat she held tightly between her fingers, down, which immediately attracts the small girl who had watched from a few feet away. "Was that sarcastic Billy?"

"Hi baby Quil," Bella whispers to the slipping bundle in the car seat. She had pulled pack the covers to see his little face. One of her fingers brushed softly against the pink of his cheek.

He watches Bella as he speaks, "Of course not Joy It really is nice to see you."

Joy laughs a hearty, melodic noise that makes him twitch. "I still can't tell."

Billy huffs and mumbles in disagreement.

"Anywayyy," she sings, pulling off her shoes to step further into the room, "I called Sarah this morning and asked her if she'd be free to look after the brat this morning-"

"Well Sarah isn't here," he interrupts her, turning to face her as she circles him, "It's the twins first day of school. She might not be home until later."

Joy stares at him with exasperation, "You think she wouldn't tell me that?" Billy lifts his hands in surrender, which makes her laugh, "Well yes. She did. She's not going to be home because she's going to the doctor right after and then will be picking up the twins for lunch. They only have a half-day you know…anyway! That's not important. She told me that you could look after him. Oh it's just for the morning Billy, stop with the look."

He forces the pout of displeasure off his face. The woman is very strong-willed. He realizes that even if he shows how disinterested he is of the arrangement, she isn't going to take no for an answer. She wouldn't have come if she would have.

"Well…?" she croons. Her toe taps out a rhythm as she waits impatiently for his verdict.

With a groan, Billy's resolve crumbles. He nods submissively then hangs his head in defeat. He'll be watching baby Quil whether he likes it or not, there is no other option evidently.

"Great," Joy exclaims while pulling an overflowing baby bag from her shoulder. She sets it on the ground at her feet and begins rifling through it. Before long, the floor is covered in baby paraphernalia. Many of the objects look strange and useless to Billy, despite the fact that he has an eight-month-old baby somewhere in his house at that precise moment. Nevertheless, he is starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with this seemingly daunting task.

"First of all," Joy continues, speaking directly to the toys in front of her, "He'll need to be changed at least once while I'm gone. I trust that you know how to do it. It should be exactly the same as changing Jacob. Just remember to put powder, and wipe him, and- oh…make sure you clean him real well. He's had diaper rash these last couple of days and I don't want it getting worse.

"Then make sure to feed him, I have the formula in here," she pulls it out, holding it up so Billy can see. He nods hurriedly, though her speech is going over his head, "whenever he gets hungry. He'll cry when he does. Warm it up a little first. Just a few seconds, and on the stove please. I don't want any of that stupid radiation getting into his milk…it can't be good for him. And I'm sure we'll be hearing about all of that microwave radiation and cancer down the road."

"Do you have a sheet so I can remember all of this…?" He scratches the back of his neck, where sweat has started to form. He isn't looking forward to this. What if he messes up? Drops the baby right on his head? Joy _and _Sarah will kill him.

"Of course." She takes it from her back pocket and places it in his waiting palm. Her eyes hang on his, her irises narrow in urgency, "But please Billy. If you're unsure of anything on here, call. Please." She drops her hand, as well as her gaze and backs up, her form already retreating out the opened door, "Please," she insists again, before waving at the children, closing the door behind her, and jogging down the walk.

Billy takes a deep breath and glances down at the letter she had written him. A hundred different points on seven different pages; it will take him all morning just to read the damned note.

"Mr. Billy," Bella calls to him from behind, "I think Jacob awake. He crying."

He stops rifling the paper and strains his ears. Sure enough, the tell-tale whimpering of his son, carries down the hallway. Billy groans. It will be a long morning.

Harry knocks on the Black's household at a quarter past eleven. Its later than their decided time, but Billy hadn't gotten his message warning him. Leah was in the emergency room the night before, claiming she broke her foot. Turns out, she was lying the entire time just to get a cool cast like Rachel. She didn't want Rachel being the only kid with a cast on the first day of school. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep until four in the morning. He hopes Billy will understand.

He waits a moment and then another. It looks like the clouds in the horizon will be coming soon, and they just don't have another minute to spare. He knocks louder on the door, practically pounding on it, but his calls aren't answered. Pressing his face to the window, Harry peers inside the Black's home. He can see the tips of Billy's hair peek over the edge of the couch, so surely he must have been able to hear him. Harry's heart constricts. Is he dead?

Quickly, he tries the lock, and to his surprise the door creeks open. He pauses at the threshold of the house; almost afraid of what he'll see once he passes through the entrance. With a great gasp of cool autumn air, Harry bravely creeps inside. He does his best to be perfectly silent, and he raises his right hand just in case.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Harry breathes a sigh of relief. All is good and well. His posture relaxes, but he still tiptoes closer. Now that the couch doesn't disrupt his view, he can see three little bodies positioned across his lap. Their chests rise and fall evenly with their soft breaths, "I thought you were dead," he whispers.

Billy looks at him, "I feel dead. I've held them for over an hour." He grumbles. His arm shifts, but Bella, who is hidden beneath it, moans in displeasure. Billy glances up at Harry to prove his point. He looks frustrated.

Harry smiles crookedly. He is almost glad that Leah doesn't want to be three feet near him at any given time, "What's baby Quil doing here And where's Sarah and the twins? Do they have school today too?" Carefully, he pulls Quil from his chest and cradles him in his arms. The baby shifts and opens his mouth around a yawn, but otherwise lays still.

When no answer comes he asks once more. Again, the only answer he gets is dead silence.

Suspiciously, Harry turns to him to see his friend sitting rigidly in his chair. His hands curl protectively around his son in his lap, and the girl beneath his arm. Billy's mouth is taut, while his bottom lip quivers like he is seemingly near tears.

"What the hell is wrong with you-" he trails off when he catches sight of Billy's eyes. They are widened in horror, the whites circling his brown irises. Harry can practically feel the panic coming from him.

Normally, he would have laughed. Billy is something of a prankster, or at least he was back in the good old days. Before he had met Sarah, or had the girls, he used to make a similar face while staring blankly at the wall. To anyone who didn't know him, it was scary, but for Harry it was down right hilarious. But this was different. He didn't crack a grin, his posture didn't relax, and there was no one to scare after all.

Harry realizes something has shifted in the air of the room. Something feels…off.

An eerie chill erects the hairs on the back of his neck, and shivers trickle like raindrops down his spine. The sense of another's presence freezes him to the core, and he swallows firmly to ward off the alarm that rises from the pit of his stomach. He can feel eyes on the back of his neck, boring like hot coals into him. He glances back at Billy, but he stares past him, behind him. He turns slowly, his hands tightening around the helpless baby in his arms.

His heart rate rockets. It pounds so hard in his chest cavity that he's sure it will break a rib. But it won't matter. He's dead anyway.

There, standing just a few inches into the house, is a woman. Long blonde hair sweeps down to her chest. The entirety of her skin is a smooth white, and it glistens like a diamond captured in the sunlight. Every single inch of her is the very definition of perfection; sultry red lips, her bared teeth a blinding white, her stature, size and frame akin to the likes of Barbie. Everything about her attracts Harry, taunting him to sin. To any other man, it would be impossible to resist her. Though she hasn't said a single word, her aurora, her appearance would have driven them wild. But he knows better. The black hue of her eyes gives away her true intentions.

The vampire stands in front of him. Her eyes take him in without moving. She looks as cold and rigid as a statue; it doesn't even seem possible that she's kind of alive. She looks nothing like a living breathing human that the monster pretends to be.

He blinks, and then her hands are outstretched to wind around his neck, the edges of her body blurry as she races toward him.

He'll be dead within the second.

Harry closes his eyes in anticipation, determined to not let her cold face be the last thing he sees. Billy screams behind him, a horrid gurgling noise that makes it sound like she went to him first, but he can still feel the wall of air she brings with her, surging toward him.

Hopefully he won't feel a thing. Maybe she will be merciful and make it quick and painless. Maybe it'll be kind of peaceful. He thinks of his wife, of his daughter, and waits for his demise to come.

But it doesn't.

Maybe she's just playing with her food, but he can't feel the chill of her anymore. His eyes snap open and she's gone. The only sign that she was there at all is the whistle of the wind with her passage.

The baby in his arms sleeps soundly, completely oblivious to the fact that he shouldn't be alive.

* * *

_**Yes, this chapter took me about half a million years to right, and yes I am very sorry about that. I hope you all will forgive me! School has been absolutely insane these last couple of weeks, and I had like only a few minutes each day to write just a couple of words at a time. So again, I apologize to the people who thought I died or something. I didn't. So I guess that's good. **_


	9. Its Quil

Chapter 9: 

It's Quil

* * *

_Ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders~_

* * *

It takes a moment for him to catch his breath. With every inhale he takes, too soon comes an exhale. His fingers grope over the surface of the couch, searching for the two little bodies that were once beside him. Panic washes over him when his searches come up empty. His stubborn eyes refuse to part from the doorway, where the vampire once stood. Eventually his voluntary control comes back to him, and he looks down to see his son on his lap looking suspiciously up at him, and Bella mirroring the look. He forces a smile, but it comes out grotesque, broken; unnatural.

How could everyone still be alive?

Harry has turned to him; baby Quil still sleeping peacefully in his arms. His face isn't maimed, and neither is the baby's. Everything is fine. Everything is perfect. And yet Billy finds that even more terrifying.

He had seen the murderous glint in her eyes. She looked like a cougar, one that had just pounced on its kill and sunk its canines into the deer's buttery flesh. There would be nothing to stop the beast from devouring its meal, and yet something did. It seemed implausible. He wouldn't have believed it if it came from another's mouth. Vampires are described as acting on instinct. Beautiful, but unpredictable creatures. They had no conscience, no guilt; their human emotions and morals had melted away with the color in their skin. They had resorted to feral ways of life, and brutish actions. Their desire for fresh human blood was the only driving force in their existence. The Cullens had proved themselves to be different, but Billy knew that deep within their centers, lay the same savage creäture. It's reactions and instincts only suppressed by the cover of a human identity. He had no doubts in his mind that should the situation arise, they would revert to their true personality. The one given to them the night their birth persona died.

A crisp breeze flows in through the still abridged door, and neither man moves to close it. It feels uncomfortable in every essence, but moving would require walking toward the place where the vampire had come through. Their fear of the unknown paralyzes them to their respective spots. They exchange a glance; why the hell are they alive?

The room still sits in silence. The only sounds that fill the room is from the TV, which belts out white noise, and from outside. The joyful twittering of birds feels ironic. Somehow, both Bella and Jacob recognize not to open their mouths.

Bella had seen the women when she awoke. She looked scary, yet drawing. Something about her urged her to go up to her, but at the same time something held her back. There was a look on her face that didn't seem right. Something about her looked frightening, and at the back of her mind Bella knew that to go to her meant danger. And how had she gotten into the house? Neither Harry, nor Billy welcomed her warmly, which was normally how they introduced someone to her. She didn't remember her being there before she fell asleep, nor did she remember Harry either, but she knew Harry. She hadn't ever seen her before, and she didn't even look like she belonged on the reservation. Her skin was whiter than hers, and Bella knew that the only reason why she belonged on the reservation was because she lived with the Black's who did.

Maybe she had come from Forks. The whitest of white people usually came from there, but Bella realizes that she didn't really look like she came from Forks either. It was something about her…something that Bella just couldn't understand yet recognized.

After a moment, she musters the courage to speak. The silence is starting to get to her, and the questions brimming at the back of her mind are too strong to hold onto any longer. Just because she doesn't know the answers to the questions her mind formed, doesn't make it impossible for anyone else to, "Who was dat?" she whispers. It doesn't seem like it'd be a good time to yell or even speak normally.

Nobody answers her question. Both Billy and Harry are as distant and lifeless as a statue. Their gazes still hover on the front door.

It's only Jacob who looks over at her. He stares at her for a minute, his wide little eyes alight with wonder. Suddenly his face breaks out into a grin and he giggles uncontrollably. Just like that, the trance that holds the men captive breaks. Their postures relax, and finally Harry closes the door and even locks it for good measure.

Harry steps toward Bella, who looks up at him. His mouth opens; then closes. With a sigh, he sits on the loveseat across from the couch; Quil still sleeping peacefully in his arms. He speaks down to the baby, but Bella knows the words are meant for her, "I don't know Bella," he mumbles, his tone sodden with grief, "I just don't know."

Only a few minutes later, the door opens again. Both men stiffen in sync, but relax when Joy's dark skin appears. She takes Quil from Harry's difficult arms, and tosses him a look that asks silently what's wrong. When all that Harry gives her is a firm drop of his shoulders, she thanks them quickly, and jogs out the door. Harry decides that it's his sign to leave, and the door slams shut behind him.

Questions, and confusion distract Billy from greeting his wife and children when they come home. Sarah knows something is up; when Rachel plops down beside him, rambling on about all the sights and sounds of kindergarten, and Billy doesn't so much as nod. Normally, Billy isn't to enthusiastic about the children's lives, but he at least always makes an effort to listen. However, his eyes are elsewhere. He stares at the front door with anguish; his lips screwed up into a grimace, his hands tightened around each other with anxiety. She's never seen him look so tortured or distant; not even Bella and Jacob seem to be completely there. Bella stares at Billy with wonderment, and Jacob does the same to Bella. Neither of them listens to Rachel or Rebecca either.

She contemplates asking him later, but her intrigue gets the better of her. "Is there something wrong Billy?" She sets her bag down by the front door and makes her way over to them. As soon as her gentle fingers make contact with the skin of his upper forearm, his eyes click with hers.

"Did you say something?" His posture instantly relaxes and he looks down at Rachel as she completes her story about the rice pit at school, "That's very nice hun."

Sarah is caught off guard, by his sudden change in demeanor. She smiles kindly and stands up again, deciding not to bring up what had troubled him when it looks like it's behind him, "I asked what you would like for supper. We'll have it earlier tonight."

"Hamburgers sound nice." he mumbles while scratching the back of his neck.

Sarah nods and walks off to the kitchen. She vows to ask him what had been up, as soon as they have some alone time.

Later that night, as Sarah and Billy lie together in bed, Sarah finally gets up the nerve to ask him. She sets her book, Oliver Twist, down, and lies on her side to face him, "Was something wrong this afternoon Billy…when I came home with the twins?"

Billy speaks with his back to her, "No."

"Come on…" she muses, as she leans forward to place a gentle kiss to the broad expanse of his shoulders. She smoothes her hands down the dips and bumps of his chest as she presses herself up against the back of her husband, "I know there was. I'm your wife. I can tell."

"There wasn't." he mumbles, his back still to her, "Leave it alone."

"No. I won't. I know there was. You're supposed to tell me everything Billy. I am your wife after all, and if I remember correctly, you swore to in your vows." She smirks against his shoulders and starts pulling the hem of the comfy t-shirt he wore up his back to reveal a slip of warm russet skin beneath it.

"It doesn't concern you." He shifts as she pulls, allowing the material to slide over his head.

Sarah tosses the shirt to the side, and smoothes her hands along his muscular back and abdominals. She loves that his body is always open to her, but hates that his words never are, "If it concerns you, it concerns me."

"Just please Sarah…" he sighs, the action ruffling her hair. He has finally turned to her. His expression replaces the barricade his back had put between them.

"Tell me. I know, whatever it is, is bothering you." She stares into his dark brown eyes, the tips of her lips curl upwards into an inviting smile.

He sighs and his mouth opens, but no words spill forth. After a moment's hesitation, finally he groans, and whispers, "Someone came to the house today."

"Was it Quil? Joy called me while you were still asleep. I should have waked you so it wouldn't have been that big of a surprise. Was he awful for you?"

"No it wasn't Qui-" Billy trails off, and his eyes widen to the size of two moons. Quickly he sits up, and his hands search frantically over the covers.

"Billy!" Sarah cries, sitting up as well. "What has gotten into you?" Her hands clasp on his forearm, and she shakes him to get his attention.

"It was Quil! It was him…that's why she left…she was scared of him. And Jacob…Jacob too." Finally, he grabs hold of his shirt and yanks it over his head.

"Billy what the hell are you talking about!" she snaps. She refuses to let go of his arm from her iron strong grip. Whatever he is rambling about doesn't make any sense, and she doesn't want him to go when he is in this hysterical state.

His eyes flicker to her, and he stares at her intently. Urgency trembles his tone, "A vampire walked in the house this morning. I could tell she was ready to kill, she even started running toward Harry, but for a split second she slowed down. I could see her nose twitch and then suddenly she was gone." Forcefully, he closes his eyes, scrunching them together to ward off the images of his brush with death, "It was Quil Sarah. You know Jacob has been showing signs ever since he was born. Quil comes from a line of wolves too. Don't you see? It's them. I know it."

"K-know what-t?" she stammers.

"She must have smelt their scents and it turned her away. Sending the Cullens away obviously didn't work. What's done is done. We're getting a new pack of wolves this generation Sarah, and Jacob and Quil are going to be part of it. I know it."


	10. Any Arms Will Do

Chapter 10:

Any Arms Will Do

* * *

_All anyone wants is to know that someone cares, even a little bit~_

* * *

The blinking lights of the Christmas tree, call the twins from their bedroom. They ignite the hallway like stars, and guide them like a beacon to the bounty hidden beneath it. With careful steps, and hissed whispers they make it to the tree before the morning sun breaks through the cloak of darkness. The winter animals have yet to awaken, and the stillness of the air outside suggests that nothing else has either. The whistle of a car on the highway, or the yell of merry song is still absent on this beautiful Christmas morning.

Carefully, Rachel pulls a large, oblong present from the clutches of the tree. The branches scrape along the package, tearing a slit right down the middle, however, she manages to wiggle it free and hold it tight in her grasp. Her finger smoothes over the nametag stickered to the top, " A…C..." she whispers under her breath, her middle finger tracing over each letter, "It says Rachel!"

After just a few seconds, the once vibrantly and crisply wrapped package lays in a disgruntled heap on the carpet. The wrapping paper in shreds and abandoned, the nametag and bow torn to smithereens. Rachel sits with her arms folded over her chest, looking displeased. "I didn't want a stupid Tonka truck," she pushes the yellow dump truck over with a sock clad toe. "Mommy an' daddy are so stupid sometime. I's not a boy!"

Rebecca nods in agreement, and mimics her sister. "So stupid."

The pitter-patter of little steps captures the girls' attention. Instinctually, Rachel hides the toy beneath her hands, while Rebecca quickly shoves the tattered wrapping paper back beneath the tree, and arranges it as if a present lies hidden under it. Rachel's eyes flicker over to Rebecca's, and they both hold their breath. If it's mommy and daddy they're sure to get in trouble.

Bella stands still in the dewy light, rubbing her eyes, "What be goin' on?" she mumbles sleepily. The girls visibly relax upon seeing her. They huff, puff, and ignore her while they grumble about the less than satisfactory Christmas present.

Jacob's bare calf presses into Bella's. H grabs her hand to support himself, and his dark black eyes stare up at her face. A sharp tug gets her attention. Automatically, Bella looks down, and her hand tightens around the little boy's, "What is' Jakey?"

His pudgy finger shoots out to point at the yellow truck that lies on its side at Rachel's feet. He glances back up at her with a wide grin, and bounces on the tips of his toes with excitement.

"Is tha yous Jakey?" she whispers softly to the small child perched at her feet.

He nods quickly, and pulls a tattered picture from his flannel pajama bottoms. He holds it up for her to take, which she does without a second thought. Carefully, she assess the picture; it's covered in red crayon, and wrinkled with drool, but behind the mess she can see a picture of a yellow dump truck from a department store's catalogue in Port Angeles.

Jacob whines, and Bella takes an involuntary step toward it. However, Sarah's heavy hand on her shoulder, holds her back.

The high-pitched wails of discontentment from the two little tots had awoken Sarah from her blissful dream. It had taken a massive amount of effort to drag herself from the comfort of her bed at such a young hour, and down the cold unrelenting hallway; only to see her preciously wrapped gifts ripped to pieces. She hangs behind Bella, fuming. Heavy shadows hide her from the view of the bratty girls that babble just a room away. "Just a minute Bella," she grumbles, her lips hardly parting to form her words, "I'll talk to them first. Head on back to bed will you? Take Jakey too."

"Bu!" Jacob protests, while his hand outstretches toward his toy that is still sitting at Rachel's feet. Sarah hisses in response, and he shuts up promptly. Bella whisks him away while his lower lip quivers. She knows Sarah is not pleased with having been woken up so early.

In the safety of their room, Bella works on consoling Jacob. The door just clicks closed behind them, when the screaming starts. The boisterous noise manages to arouse Billy, who pulls himself from bed as well to demand 'what the hell is going on'. The screaming gradually transforms into crying, as they receive their punishments. After all, mommy and daddy warned them not to open anything until 8 o'clock when they came to get them. It was their fault really.

Sarah opens the door to Bella and Jacob's room, while they sit quietly and listen. They look up at her innocently.

"Go back to bed you two." With a stern nod to prove her point, she shuts the door behind her. Four pairs of footsteps trickle down the hallway.

Bella whispers to Jacob once the house has settled into silence again, "Are yous sweepy till?"

He shakes his head defiantly.

Bella giggles as she watches him, "Yous going to swing yous head so fast, is gonna falled off."

Jacob's eyes widen impossibly large. His hands dart to either side of his head; determined to hold it in place.

Bella laughs into her palm. He is so silly sometimes. A fleeting thought catches in her mind, and she goes quiet as she thinks about it. Her brow furrows in concentration, and she whispers to the little boy in front of her, "You thinks me daddy call me dis year?"

Charlie hadn't spoken to, or called her, in three months. The last time was her birthday, and while on the phone with him, he had promised to wish her a merry Christmas that December. He hadn't the year before, and Bella wonders if things will be different this year.

She had cherished the moments spent talking to her daddy, and when he hung up only a few minutes into the call, it had nearly broken her fragile heart. She yearned to speak, see, and to wrap her arms around his neck and never let go. She missed him terribly, and it ate her up inside when she wondered what she could have possibly done that was so bad that made him abandon her. Bella longed to hear her father's voice again, but she didn't trust that he would call her this year.

A few silent tears slip down her cheeks. She whips them away with the back of her fist, then buries her little face into her hands. Quietly, she cries and mourns for her breathing father.

Miraculously, a pair of strong arms wraps around her little body. She melts into them, and buries her face into the crook of the other body's shoulder. Once she calms down, and most of the tears have dried, she looks up to see whom has comforted her.

Jacob's molten brown eyes stare back at her. He smiles a toothy smile, and then presses his chapped lips to her slightly wet cheek. It's an action he's learned from Sarah. He knows it'll make her happy.

After just a few seconds, Bella giggles, "Gross Jacob." She wipes the remaining moisture from her face and inhales a giant breath as a resolution to her episode.

The baby simply babbles at her, his arms tightening around her again. She settles back into them with a sigh. Even though they aren't the arms she's craving, it is exactly what she needs.

* * *

_**Well, this only took me a billion years to upload and it's kind of terrible. Sorry. **_


	11. It's Not Time to Worry Yet

Chapter 11: 

It's Not Time to Worry Yet

* * *

_Scars heal, but the wounds don't~_

* * *

The second she opens the door; they race out to the tree. Billy, who prepared himself in front of it, hangs onto the collars of their button down pajama tops to keep them from ransacking every single present piled beneath it. One would think the commotion would wake the other two up, especially on Christmas morning, but no noise comes from behind the last closed-door at the end of the hall.

Curiously, Sarah turns the knob and peers inside. Her heart melts when she sees the two little bodies curled up together on the floor. It's hard to tell exactly who is who among the mess of limbs, however the dark hue of Jacob's arm, against the milky white of Bella's exposed middle, gives it away. The children are oblivious to the ogling woman as they peacefully snooze. Their little chests rise and fall with their even breaths, and Jacob's partly open mouth lets out soft sounds of sleep against Bella's neck.

She stands there for a few minutes, just staring. She only moves when Billy puts his hand on her shoulder and she jumps in shock. "Billy…" she breathes, as his hand wraps around her waist and pulls her into him, "You scared the heck out of me."

"Mm…" he grumbles. He stares over Sarah's shoulder to the kids on the floor.

"Move them."

Sarah glances over at him. Her left hand reaches up to stroke the left side of his face. "You need a shave…" she whispers mostly to herself as her fingers smooth over the prickly surface of his jaw and chin. She thinks he looks hot like this, but it's an annoyance otherwise.

"Well? Go on." Billy mutters, ignoring her comment. Shaving is a useless inconvenience in his mind. What does it matter if he's a little stubbly anyway? It's not going to hurt anyone, and he prefers to be au natural.

"Hm?" She hadn't heard him, or at least hadn't heard anything she wanted to. "They're sleeping. They'll be fine. I'll make sure the twins don't walk in and ste-"

Billy cuts his wife off, "That's not what I meant."

Sarah breaks from his hold, and looks at him quizzically. The two little wrinkles between her eyes sink deep into her face. "Then what did you mean?"

He stares past her, at the wall opposite them. His voice sounds distant and withdrawn as he speaks, "It's not right…for them to be together like that."

"But they're just little kid-"

""But they won't be forever." Billy replies solemnly. A stiff hand rakes through his hair, parting the messy strands in a line down the middle. "One day, those two will grow up and it won't be so cute anymore."

"You don't know that Billy you don't-"

Again, Billy speaks before she's finished. It's getting on her nerves, but she decides to keep her mouth shut. It is still Christmas after all.

"Yes." He presses, "I do know. I'm pretty damn sure what he's going to do to her when they're older."

Sarah's cheeks heat up involuntarily. "B-Billy!" she sputters at him, her eyes and mouth forming similarly large circles. She can't believe the audacity of him!

For the first time that morning, Billy cracks a smile, "Get your mind out of the mud Sarah. I meant that he'll imprint on her. I'm nearly certain by now. Nearly certain…" He stares at the two children still tangled together, the smile long gone.

"Then if you know, you know what that will lead to. If you're so certain he'll imprint, then what use is it to keep them apart while they're still young? They're happy together…it feels good to them. Who are we to tell them what they can and can't do?

"And you know how children are. The more you tell them not to do something, the more they want to do it. Rachel and Rebecca are the same way! 'Don't color on the walls!', the next day there will be twice as many scribble marks as the day before. And if they get together when they're older, all the power to them! They aren't related by blood anyway. Plus you've never worried about them before. What has gotten into you?"

Billy looks at her. Something in his face has hardened, and as Sarah looks at him, she realizes how much he's aged since they've first married. It's like looking at an entirely different man. She hardly recognizes him. "We have to start sometime, and she's a Black now. People in this town and the next, won't understand. If they share the same last name, they're related. Brothers and sisters…" he trails off; fixated on another point in the distance.

"You're just trying to protect them…?" Sarah mumbles, looking up at him.

"Of course I am. I wouldn't care otherwise."

Sarah presses her lips to his temple. "Don't worry baby…" She hangs close to him and inhales his sweet scent. It's musky, with just a hint of pine. Her father used to smell like this; it comforts her. "It's not time to worry yet."

By the end of the night, the turkey the women prepared is stripped naked. Three of the four pie tins are not only empty, but licked clean. Not much leftovers of the many home cooked dishes prepared, are left. Only the salmon casserole that Sue burned to a crisp sits untouched on the countertop. She's convinced the men at the bookstore will eat and appreciate it. Sarah plans to sneak it from her while she's busy cleaning and throw it away.

For the men's sake.

"Yvette was the second afterschool babysitter Leah's had this month," Sue mutters while she ferociously mutilates the wine glass with her washcloth. Her anger makes her brutal, "Babysitters these days…they can't deal with sh-"

Sue abandons her sentence once she sees the look Sarah gives her. She juts her finger at Bella, who scribbles somberly in the corner by herself. Sue bought her a coloring book for Christmas, and from the moment she opened it, she's been glued to it.

'Well there must be a reason…" Joy says from across the room. She holds baby Quil against her chest as she feeds him his mashed peas. By the look on his face, he doesn't seem to enjoy them.

"She hit four other kids so hard, two got bloody noses. I've told her a thousand times to not hit, even if she gets mad, but she doesn't get it. Everyday it's the same thing, and I'm sick of it already! I can't miss any more days at work looking after the little monster because nobody else will. Lock her up. I don't give a damn."

"Maybes shes sho jus be nice to da ofer kids…" a little voice from the corner pipes up.

All three heads swivel around to look at Bella. She has stopped coloring to look at them intently. The girl has a sort of brightness in her eyes that makes Sarah proud.

"I agree Bella. Why don't you tell that to her? Maybe she'll listen to you."

Bella shakes her head quickly, and her eyes widen, "No fank yous Miss Clearwawer. I jus gonna color if dats ok wif yous."

Sue chuckles, "Course…" She smiles and reaches for the receiver hanging from the wall when the phone rings. She presses it to ear with her shoulder and resumes drying, "Hello?"

In a seconds time, the dish she was drying slips to the floor and shatters into a million pieces. Bella looks up from her drawing and flinches. All of the other women turn to Sue, startled. It isn't like her to drop a plate like that.

"…Charlie!?" Sue screams once she's realized exactly who is on the other line. Hurriedly, she holds the phone with both hands, and her rushed voice slews insults, curses and frantic questions into the receiver.

Sarah rips it from her friends' hand and holds it up to her ear. She knows any insults may fragile the confidence he had, and they'll loose him again. "Charlie!..." she paces in front of the sink, her sweaty palms curling tightly around the phone. She can't believe it. The raspy laugh that echoes from the phone isn't anyone but him.

"We're here for Christmas supper…," she answers when he asks her where they are, "Where are you?...Are you alright then?...Yes…Yes she's right here."

Bella had slipped out of her chair the second Sue had said her father's name. She stands at Sarah's feet, one of her little hands tugging on her flared pant leg to get her attention. The hand still at her side quivers.

"Daddy. I wanna talk to me daddy," she whines.

Sarah's hand shakes too, as she hands Bella the phone. "Here Bella. Here's your daddy." She straightens up and watches the girl press the phone to the side of her face. Her eyes well up when she hears her father's voice, and she bursts into sobs.

"Daddy…I miss you. Comes home pwease… I miss you daddy. I wove you too. Daddy…" The entire house has gone silent as Bella listens to her father speak. Her voice cracks, and she whispers into the phone, "Daddy don' go…"

Bella stares at the phone once her father has hung up. For a second she says and does nothing. Then, without a word she sinks to the floor and buries her face in her knees. Not even Jacob can convince her to look up this time.


	12. Letting Go

Chapter 12:

Letting Go

* * *

_Letting go has never been easy, but holding on can be as difficult. Yet strength is not measured not by holding on, but by letting go~_

* * *

Nothing remarkable happens that winter, and little the following spring.

* * *

Jacob, though still a baby, has grown firmer on his feet. No longer does he have to rely on the hand of another as he carts precariously around the house. He's becoming a proficient walker, even able to kick a ball with occasional success. Billy is so impressed with his son's becoming athletic ability that he signs him up for baby's soccer at just sixteen months. Billy learns the hard way that maybe he is just a teensy weensy bit young. Sarah doesn't say, 'I told you so', when Billy walks the screaming baby into the house. He doesn't need to hear it.

When the unpredictable weather of May has faded into the warmth of June, Jacob takes an interest in potty training. At first it's hardly noticed. Sarah's had to pull him out of the toilet before. But when it becomes a regular occurrence, and his shirts and pants are always stained with watermarks, Sarah begins to pay closer attention to her growing son. Finally, when Jacob has taken to storming into the bathroom every-time the door closes, she splurges and buys him a cute little potty complete with sound effects.

She's pleased with her purchase and so is Bella. She covers her mouth with her hand and giggles into it when she first sees it. She insists that Jacob will love it, as he loves anything the color blue the same.

Initially, the girls are right; Sarah will find him passed out on it, or pressing the pretend handle over and over as he laughs at all the silly sounds it makes. But after a few days, Sarah begins to realize that the investment is only a play toy to him. With the cute little toilet there to entertain him, he stops showing an interest in actually potty training entirely. Instead of gradually letting his fascination take its course, she decides to start training him while he has interest in the subject.

Sarah teaches him that it really is a mini version of the potty it's beside. The look of excitement on Sarah's face is indescribable when she finds the potty and the entire area around it sprayed with urine. It's messy and disgusting, but it's a start. She's one step closer from never having to walk down the diaper isle again (Billy and Sarah have already decided that four children is more than enough).

Unfortunately, his frequent spying sessions on his father have influenced him into believing that standing is the only way to go. When Sarah expresses discontentment, Jacob gets frustrated and refuses to use the potty ever again. Three weeks later, Sarah is still making regular trips down the diaper isle.

During this time, Bella has worked towards forgetting her father. Christmas had been one of the worst nights in her tiny existence. It had been wonderful hearing her father's voice, but what upset her was his ease in letting her go. The call had only been about 45 seconds, which was not nearly enough time for Bella to tell him all about her life at the Black's. She wanted to talk to her father, to tell him all about her new life without him. But he didn't want to hear it. And Bella doesn't like being sad.

The first step in her three-part plan is to color pictures of her family without Charlie. It is something she normally doesn't do. She always makes an effort to draw him in, whether he is off to the side, or in central focus. It is a big step for her, and it goes noticed by Billy.

"Where is Charlie?" he asks her one day spring day, while he watches her complete another drawing. It's her usual picture: Bella and Jacob are in the front holding hands, Sarah and himself are doing the same behind them, the twins sit isolated off to the side, but there is an unusual gaping space in the right side of the picture where Charlie usually hovers.

"Who," she asks innocently. She glances up at him in apparent confusion; her eyes narrowed quizzically.

That is the second step; to deny any knowledge of a man named Charlie. Whenever someone will mention his name, she'll go quiet. Or if anyone brings up his existence to her, she will claim she doesn't know whom they are talking about.

The third, and final step of her plan is to call Billy dad, daddy, or even father.

Billy's shocked the first time he hears it slip from her mouth. She attempts to tie her shoe; something the twins have pressured her into learning. Dexterity has not yet come to her, so she is a little awkward with maneuvering her fingers into the proper shapes to tie a bow. She scowls in frustration after her forth attempt, then throws her hands down in anguish. She then looks up at him and asks him for help, addressing him as 'daddy'. She has to ask once more before he finally closes his lax jaw.

* * *

Summer passes with ease, and then it is fall.

This fall would see Bella's fifth birthday, and with it her first day of school.

She is a little nervous that morning when Sarah wakes her up extra early. There is only one Elementary school in both La Push, and Forks, so to make it for the nine o'clock bell, they'll have to leave half-an-hour early. As Bella drags herself groggily out of bed, Sarah assures her she'll get used to it. In fact, she is certain she'll be excited to wake up to go to school the next day. Bella isn't so sure. Jacob won't be there.

Her hands shake as she brings the spoon to her lips. After she swallows her mouthful of cereal, she turns to Rachel who eats somberly across from her, "Tell me again how many kids there are there."

Rachel scowls and drops her spoon into the little blue ceramic bowl, "Lots. But none of them will like you."

"Rachel!" Sarah barks, looking at her young child in shock. She had figured that her snappiness would fade as she aged, but it's getting worse with every passing year.

"Well it's true. She's sooo annoying." Her arms fold over themselves and she looks at Sarah harshly. Sarah dreads the day she'll turn fourteen.

"You don't need to say that Rachel…" she says tiredly, the message is anything but new. Her eyes fall on Bella, who's hanging her head, "Just go put on your clothes darling. We're leaving in ten minutes."

Sarah had laid a pretty polka-dotted dress on her bed. Bella runs her fingers over the silky material. It isn't a hand-me-down, and it isn't a dress from the sale box at the grocery store in town; it's a brand new dress that Sarah picked up for her while on a trip into Port Angelus. The material smells fresh and clean; like lemons and soap. Though Bella isn't a fan of dresses like Rebecca is, she likes it.

"Jacob…" she whispers to the boy sitting a few feet away from her. "Can you zip it up pwease?" Bella tugs at the dress' zipper at the nape of her neck. It only has a few inches left to go, but it won't budge.

He slides toward her on his bum, and sweeps her hair messily away. She sighs at his touch; she'll miss it today. Awkwardly, the boy manages to get it up, and he sits back to admire his work. "Wah wrong Bell?"

"I'm scared," she mumbles to her lap. Daycare always took place at the Black's while she was with Charlie, and Sue's with the Black's. Apart from Rachel, Rebecca, Leah, Jacob and Quil, Bella has never been with kids her own age. Even when the twins bring home friends from school, she always isolates herself in her room. She doesn't know what to expect. If the kids are anything like Rachel and Rebecca claim, school doesn't sound fun. The only part Bella is looking forward is the learning, most children's least favorite part.

Jacob frowns in reaction. He doesn't like sad Bella. Instinctually his arms wrap around her waist, and they stay locked around each other until Sarah forces them apart.

The elementary school in Forks is the old town hall building. There had been a poll four years back, on whether to tear it down or refurbish the architectural beauty into a functional elementary school. It had been unanimous. They put a small park, complete with slides and swing sets, where the old parking lot had been. The only problem is that it was in the middle of the town next to a busy road. Fortunately, 'busy' in Forks means that no more than 6 cars pass by per hour. Most people walk.

Bella's eyes widen when she sees it. It is three stories high, massive (according to a 3 foot tall child), and scary looking. Flocks of children walk around on the lawn in front. Some are playing tag, others, tossing a ball back and forth, but all are screaming. Screaming so loud, Bella can hear them from inside the car.

It takes a lot of convincing and the promise of a treat after school, to draw the timid little girl from her car seat. The second Sarah puts Bella on the sidewalk and slides the pretty purple backpack from Sue over her fragile little shoulders, her eyes moisten.

"Do I have to?" she whines, looking back longingly at the car.

"Yes you do." Sarah takes her inside, past the little children, which she cowers from, and to the room that will be her classroom.

Bella wrinkles her nose when she steps inside. It doesn't smell like home. Sarah turns her around, and then kneels down to her level. "I have to leave now."

"No…I want to stay with you. I don't like it here. I don't know anyone. I'm-" she starts, but Sarah cuts her off.

"I'll be back in three hours ok? You're a big girl." She rubs her arms to comfort her and smiles softly at the frightened little girl who has begun to cry. Carefully, she swipes back her hair and presses a gentle kiss to the centre of her forehead, "I'll bring Jacob to pick you up. Then you can tell him all about your day." Sarah smiles reassuringly at her and takes a step back, breaking contact. She only cries harder.

Sarah knows that going back to comfort her isn't going to solve the problem. She straightens up and smiles down at her young daughter taking her first step toward independence. "Goodbye Bella. Have a good day."

The teacher has to physically remove Bella from Sarah's ankle. She doesn't want to let go. Her screams for her, making Sarah walk faster. She doesn't look back.

The morning bell rings just as Sarah slips through the door. She fights her way though the children and stands out on the quiet front steps. The tears that had begun to pool in her eyes slowly dry up, and she takes a deep breath of cool autumn air to calm herself.

"Oh Charlie," she mumbles as she makes her way to her car waiting for her outside the fence, "You should be the one crying for her right now."


	13. Mrs and Misses

Chapter 13:

Mrs. and Misses

* * *

_When you look back at the little things in life, you'll realize they were big changes~_

* * *

It takes a full hour for Bella's sobs to finally die down. The teacher, Mrs. Mallory, allowed the upset girl to calm herself at the back of the classroom among the pretty paper dolls, and stuffed animals.

With her knees drawn up, she takes a slow glance around the classroom. There's pencils, paper, and paints near the door, and a big box of rice in the centre of the classroom. Behind her, sits a rustic looking cabinet stuffed with books. She vows to read through all of them by the time summer comes around, if, of course, Sarah doesn't allow her to drop out of school.

The classroom itself isn't very big, but the class is. Bella can only count to fourteen, and there are more than fourteen kids sitting huddled around Mrs. Mallory. In fact, she can nearly count fourteen two times. Bella doesn't like big crowds much.

She sits calmly among the toys until Mrs. Mallory catches her eye. She firmly shakes her hand, a gesture that could be interpreted as simply a spasm of sorts. But Bella knows better.

Carefully, the timid girl abandons her perch. She slips into place behind two large boys snickering between themselves. They're poking a girl in front of them, and every time she turns around they look off into the distance. The immature behavior makes Bella sigh. She had heard about boy's foolish behavior from Rachel and Rebecca, but hadn't believed it. Neither Jacob nor Quil are annoying. She hopes she won't have to suffer under their torment.

She rests her forearms on her crisscrossed legs. Her eyes grow heavy; her tears made them tired. With Mrs. Mallory's whispered voice to sooth her, Bella slips into a light sleep. A few minutes of silence makes Bella start, she can't hear Mrs. Mallory's voice anymore.

Her eyes snap open to see everyone else's focused on her. They burst into giggles, and the boys who were sitting in front of her point their long, scrawny fingers at her.

She's just about to tear up again, when Mrs. Mallory chuckles, "Sorry dear. If you want to take naps, you're going to have to take the other Kindergarten class. It's time for art!"

Bella cracks a small smile, the first of the morning so far.

"What are you coloring?"

"A picture."

The boy sitting beside her laughs, "I knows that. What kind of picture?" He leans forward on his lanky arms and takes a peek.

Bella's arms tighten around the picture, shielding it from his prodding gaze. She takes a break from drawing a pretty brown wolf to look up at him. "A picture."

The boy pouts, and reaches past her arm to take the picture from her.

She slaps his outstretched hand before he can touch it. She looks at him seriously, her expression older than her years in that moment, "If yous want to see me picture, why don't yous ask nice?" Bella does her best impression of Sarah's voice when she tries to explain something to Jacob when he doesn't understand. It's spot on.

The boy sighs and slumps over in his chair, clearly defeated. "Can I please see yous picture," he mutters to the floor.

Satisfied with his politeness, she slips the picture toward him. She watches him look at it, and smiles when his face breaks out into a gigantic grin.

"I love wolves you know…" He mutters, mostly to himself. After another minute of careful examination, he slips the picture back toward her.

Bella did know that he loved wolves. Everyone of Quileute descent did for some reason. The caramel hue of his skin, and his dark raven hair hinted at his heritage. But his awe at the picture of a wolf gave it away. The picture had been a present for Jacob when she got home, but she could always draw another one for him. Bella pushes the drawing back towards the boy, "You keeps it," she whispers, looking up into his dark eyes.

There's silence then he explodes into giggles. Without skipping a beat, he hops out of his chair, the picture in hand, and runs back to the group of boys he had strayed from. Bella shakes her head. He didn't even thank her.

Bella is a bubbling pot of stories during the car ride home. It's such a shock. The girl she had dropped off that morning, had been reluctant to even speak the word 'school', but now she won't shut up.

She tells her about the boy she had spoken and given her picture to (She makes an effort to rub it in Rachel's face that kids actually did like her). And about the girl who was running through the arts and craft section of the classroom, and ran into one of the easels and got bright blue paint all over her pretty yellow dress (Jacob giggles along with Bella with their palms pressed to their faces).

It's so different from what she had expected. She had figured that Bella would beg to not go back, but instead Sarah had to call her name twice to make her leave.

The following morning, Bella wakes up half an hour earlier, and climbs eagerly inside the car when Sarah says it's time to go. Unlike the twins who nearly made them late, by refusing to get in the car.

The morning flies by. Unlike her first day, the second day they started to get into the actual curriculum. While most kids groaned and refused to pay attention when the teacher rattled off the alphabet, Bella listened carefully, ingraining every syllable she spoke to memory.

The afternoon carries on much like the first day. Free-time lasts for half an hour, arts and crafts forty-five minutes, and then organized play for the rest of the day.

Bella seems to have started a trend. Even though she's not the best drawer in class, a hoard of boys gathers around her every time she colors. Apparently the boy she had given her drawing to, told all of his friends. She creates thirteen pictures of different colored wolves for six boys in the forty-five minute period.

The rest of the week passes quickly. Every new piece of information Bella hears she soaks up like a sponge then regurgitates it to either Sarah or Jacob after school. Sarah can't help but smile at her blabbering sessions. It seems like school has helped crack the shell that held Bella back from freely expressing herself. When she passes on what she's learned to Jacob, he pretends to understand. His bright brown eyes grow wide, and he's all giggles and smiles.

Sarah can tell, though he never actually says anything, that he's missing Bella. When she gets home from school, he won't let her go. He won't leave her side, or do anything that doesn't involve her. When it's just the two of them, he won't say, or do much. He prefers to just hang out by himself, watching cartoons or coloring scribbles on every piece of paper he can find for Bella when she gets home.

It's kind of sad actually. The boy's nothing without his little friend.

* * *

**I am terribly sorry for taking so very long. I PROMISE it won't take that long for the next chapter. Cross my heart!**

**I have also started a forum here on fanfiction called After Dawn ( forum/After-Dawn/135989/ ). If anyone is interested in joining, which is a roleplay, PM me! It's surprisingly enjoyable, and a great way to make some friends here on fanfiction and increase traffic to your stories. If it sounds intersting to you, or something you'd like to try out I highly recommend giving it a shot! I know I was relutant to try it out at first, but wow…it's so much fun! It certainly improved my writing skills and its kind of addicting too :P Don't be shy to PM me readers! :D**


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